Brain Drain
by Stessa
Summary: When Sharpay loses her memory, the gang is there for her, to help her get her life back. But what if they decide to change a few things in her past? What problems will it cause? A Troypay story, cowritten with xoxo bethany.. Dedicated to Catie!
1. Chapter One

**Brain Drain **

**Chapter One**

**A Phone Call**

Sharpay pressed her foot onto the speeder, watching as the speedometer went higher and higher, as she drove faster and faster down the deserted Albuquerque road. Houses, gardens and trees floated through her sight, and tears clouded her vision, as she placed even more pressure on her foot, hoping to get her car to drive even faster. Her face was cold, from the wind, and from her dried tears, and her hair flew back, creating almost a halo.

She closed her eyes for a second, feeling the stinging against her cheek, but opened them again, to see the road. It was completely dark outside, and the street lamps didn't help much, since she passed them quicker than they came into vision.

She needed to get her frustrations out. She couldn't take the pressure, she couldn't take this life. She hated her parents above everything else. Why did two people, who clearly didn't love each other, get married and have kids? Why did they place two children in this world when they were never there for them, and didn't care if they did good in school or had friends and were happy?

And when they finally were home, they did nothing but fight. It was one night a month, maybe not even that. And they had dinner together, and she and Ryan told about their school, while everything seemed quite wonderful. But after that… after she and Ryan had gone to upstairs, the yelling started, just because they thought their kids couldn't hear. But they heard everything. Every single word, and it definitely weren't good words.

"_Well, you can just take care of your kids instead of travelling with me all over the world!" Vance yelled, angrily slamming the kitchen door close, to keep his kids from hearing the fight that was about to begin. He knew he and __Auchanté would raise their voices, and he hated the thought of his kids hearing it. _

"_I'm being a good wife, am I not!?" Auchanté yelled, staring her husband deeply into the eyes, "I'm going with you because that's what I'm supposed to do! Just because I do it, doesn't mean I like it, does it?!"_

"_I never told you to go!" Vance said, his voice cold. _

_Sharpay let out a deep sigh, as she crawled backwards away from the keyhole. Ryan got up from his lying position on the floor, where he'd been looking underneath the door, to catch his parents' fight. It was obvious that a lot of stuff was going on behind closed doors, because when they finally were home, they did nothing but fight. _

_Sharpay couldn't help but let the tears fall, as she slowly tiptoed up the stairs, Ryan right behind her. She hated her parents, especially when they were home. They always fought. They tried to pretend like everything was okay, when she and Ryan were there, but as soon as they left, they started yelling. They even closed the door, hoping it'd hold back their screams. As if. Nothing could hold back the hate they felt for one another. _

_When they both entered her room, Ryan closed the door safely, and Sharpay threw herself onto her bed, crying softly into her pillow. She almost couldn't take it. She'd been looking forward to this night all month. They hadn't seen their parents in forever, and she had so many news for them. She had all kind of things she wanted to share with them, and she'd dressed up in her best dress, and done her hair and make-up perfectly for their family dinner. And tomorrow, she and Ryan had planned for them all to go play a happy game of family golf. But nothing went as planned. Her parents ruined everything. _

_She sniffled into her soft feather pillow, and buried her face deeper into it, embarrassed to look Ryan in the eyes. Sure, he'd seen her cry before. Hell, Troy Bolton had even seen her cry before, that time at Lava Springs during summer, but she hated when people saw her cry. It was the worst. But she couldn't help but cry in front of her brother when it came to her parents. It was one of the only things where she showed emotion to Ryan – to anyone, really. She wasn't good that, because it made her feel weak. And the Ice Princess wasn't weak. She was strong, and she didn't let anyone get through to her. She knew they all called her that, and it made her feel brilliant somehow, but right now, crying into her pillow in front of her brother, she didn't feel that brilliant and icy._

_She felt a calm hand on her shoulder, and she slowly turned her head to stare deeply into Ryan's blue eyes. She loved him so much, though she'd never admit it. And she appreciated his friendship, and that he stuck with her through everything, though he was getting more independent. After everything that happened during summer, he'd spent more time with the Wildcats, but Sharpay herself wasn't. She'd never stoop that low, that was for sure. They were all beneath her status… maybe except for Troy, but she'd decided to forget about him. _

"_Calm down, sis," Ryan told her, brushing a piece of her bleach blonde hair out of her eyes, "It's gonna be okay. No matter what happens, we always have each other."_

"_Shut up, Ryan!" she mumbled, before sitting up completely. She angrily wiped her cheeks off, and took her pillow to her face, screaming into it for a second. It really was her way out of it all. It made her feel better about herself. She got everything out, all the stuff that was bottled up inside of her. She needed release, and when her parents were home for one weekend, they drew the final straw. She always snapped. _

"_No need to bite my head off, Shar," Ryan replied, his voice low and gently, though he sounded a bit hurt as well, like he did during summer when she wouldn't sing with him, "I'm only trying to help you. We gotta stick together. You know I love you, right?" _

"_Yeah, yeah," Sharpay mumbled, as she placed her pillow on the bed again, and drew in a calming breath, "Quit all your lovey-dovey talk, frankly, it's making me sick." _

_Ryan arched his left eyebrow slightly, and studied her, that certain look in his eyes. He didn't have to say anything, because she knew from that look, that he saw right through her. _

"_Yeah okay!" she finally gave in, rolling her eyes, "I love you too, Ryan, now will you get out of here!?" _

_Ryan let out a cheesy grin, and kissed her hair, "Now that's better…" he went for the door, and grabbed the handle closely, "Cheer up, Shar. It's Friday, we can hang out tomorrow. Maybe mom and dad will be better friends there. Who knows, maybe it'll even be fun?" _

_She crossed her arms tightly, an empty look in her eyes, "I doubt it…" _

_Ryan rolled his eyes slightly, and opened the door, to go to his room. However, her door didn't close completely, so she could hear the muffled voices of her mom and dad from downstairs. She suspected they were calming down now, because the yelling had stopped. She was also too lazy to get up and close the door completely. She turned around on her back, and stared at her ceiling, thinking things over in her head. _

_She didn't understand why her parents were so unhappy. Was it something that she and Ryan did? Did they do anything wrong, or weren't they good enough kids? Were their grades that bad, and didn't they act well enough or behave like rich kids? During summer her parents had seemed so happy, but she knew it probably was because all of the people around them. They'd had to act like a happy family. Because in real life, things had been like this since she could remember. _

_Suddenly she jumped into the air by a loud yell outburst from downstairs, and she fell on her butt at the hard floor. She closed her eyes, and rubbed her backside gently. _

"…_MAYBE I SHOULD JUST STAY AT A HOTEL DURING THE WEEKEND THEN!" her father screamed._

"_YES, PLEASE!" her mother screamed back, her voice slightly cracking, "AND WHEN YOU LEAVE FOR BUSINESS, I'M DEFINITELY GONNA STAY HERE! I'M GONNA STAY A TAKE CARE OF MY KIDS, SINCE YOU WON'T!!"_

"_WELL!" her father yelled again, his voice getting higher and higher, "YOU'RE FREE TO DO THAT! I WON'T CARE, I HAVE THINGS TO DO!" _

_Sharpay grabbed her iPod and quickly put her earpieces in, turning the volume up as high as it could go. She couldn't stand to listen to them, so she found one of her current favourite songs, 'Lips of an Angel' by hinder, and listened to that, to keep their voices out. She danced into her walk-in closet, finding a white tee with the pink words 'I'm Hot, You're Not!' written across the chest, along with a pair of grey Everlast sweatpants. She took it on, plus a pair of sneakers. Then she grabbed her purse, and took a deep breath. _

_She stepped closer to the window, and looked out of it, at the clear night sky. It was almost full moon, and the stars were shining brightly. She opened the window fully, and felt the cold, chilly breeze against her skin. It felt good in her throbbing eyes, and on her burning cheeks. She took in a deep breath, and let her lungs fill with air. It was what she needed, some fresh air. _

_She swung one leg out of the window, and onto the roof, quickly letting the other leg follow, so she was standing securely on the roof beneath her window. She steadied herself a bit, and closed her window, but made sure to let it be open a little, so she could get back in, before walking across the roof. She stopped before she had to cross Ryan's window, and leaned slightly forward, to see through it. He was watching TV in his boxers, with his side to the window, so she took the chance, and quickly passed it. She'd done it so many times before, when she wanted to get out a little. She knew Ryan wouldn't approve of her going out for a walk or a drive in the night, so she always did it without him knowing. _

_When she came to the end of the roof, she threw her purse down, where it landed on in the hence. Then she looked forward, her eyes printed on the branch she was going to jump to. It wasn't that far, but she knew she wasn't the best athlete. She'd done it many times before though, so she knew she could. She took a deep breath and jumped, her fingers closing safely around the branch. She looked down, and held her tongue in the corner of her lips, before letting go. _

_She landed on the ground with a thud, but she wasn't hurt. Quickly she grabbed her purse, and made a dash for her car, but she stopped in front of the kitchen window, where she could see her parents still fighting. She still couldn't hear them because of the music blaring in her ears, and she was happy with that. Her father seemed to be yelling, and her mother was holding up a frying pan, angrily pointing with it her father. _

_She shook her head softly, as a new bash of tears welled up in her eyes, and she crossed the lawn. She jumped into her car, and turned on the engine. Ripping her iPod out of her ears, to hear the smooth sounds of her car, she backed out of the driveway, and onto the deserted road… _

She angrily wiped the thousandth tear off of her cheek. She'd done nothing but cry that night. And it was all because of them. She hated herself for being so weak, and she definitely wouldn't cry anymore. She promised herself that.

The fresh air had done her good, and the speeding was giving her a freedom she couldn't get in her little room. She wondered if they'd realized she wasn't there yet, or if they didn't even care. Ryan probably wouldn't bother her more tonight, so she should be in the clear. But you never know…

She closed her eyes again, just for a second, and then opened them again, letting the air get to them. She pushed her foot down on the pedal a lot harder, and just kept going. She didn't care; there was no one on the road. She looked in the mirror at herself, she looked a mess. Her hair was everywhere, and her mascara was smudged half way down her face. But this time; she really didn't give a shit.

As she let another dozen tears out, her vision blurred. She pushed her messy hair out of the way, and kept her eyes on the road. She pushed down harder on the pedal. Why did they do that? They must have realized by now, that they both could hear. But no, they continued, they didn't care. They didn't care about Sharpay or Ryan. They cared about themselves, and no one else.

Sharpay took one hand off of the driving wheel and put it to her head, where she rubbed her right temple softly. With all the shouting and crying, she had a throbbing headache. She hated her parents right now, she hated her life!

She looked down at her lap, closing her eyes. She couldn't deal with this anymore; it was too much for a teenage girl to go through. They hated each other so much, why didn't they just get on?, why didn't they just love each other? Why couldn't they be like a _normal_ family? But of course they couldn't just be a normal family; they were the Evans family. Everyone thought they were happy, one big happy family. But that just wasn't true.

She let out an 'ugh' and rubbed her forehead, she really needed some medication right now. Her neck was hurting off hanging it down, so she lifted it up, keeping her eyes closed. She suddenly heard a car horn go off, five times. She opened her eyes, and flung her hands in front of her face.

**White light.**

**--**

Ryan lay back onto his bed, sighing. He could still hear the war that was going on downstairs, the war between his two _loving_ parents. He stretched over to his table and took the remote, turning the T.V. up louder. He didn't want to hear their fight, he hated when his parents argued.

He was watching some stupid show, there was nothing on at this time of night. He wasn't actually watching it, he was just… thinking, but looking at the T.V. screen. In some way, he was taking the show in, but wasn't acting listening to it. He was daydreaming, he did that a lot. When his parents were fighting, he'd just take the time to think. He thought about how lucky he was, in actually having parents. He knew they fought whenever they were alone, but he thought about the children who didn't actually have parents, and he was glad he wasn't one of them.

The shouting died down for about five minutes, so Ryan turned the T.V. down and closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep, after all it was late. He started to drift off, until his cell started ringing.

_Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?  
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?_

Ryan groaned and chose to ignore it; he just pushed the phone away from him. It fell onto the floor, and made a soft bang. He didn't care; he just rolled over onto his other side, and continued sleeping.

_Don't cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me?  
__Don't cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me?_

He grabbed his cell off of the floor and sat Indian style on his bed. He flipped it open, groggily saying: "Hello?"

"Yes, hello. Can I speak to Mr. Ryan Evans please?"

"This is him."

"I don't know how to tell you this, but…" the woman on the other end of the phone took a breath and softly said: "Your sister was in a car crash."

* * *

_So yeah. That was the first chapter of a joint fic between Stessa and XxCharmedxX. We hope you enjoyed it, and we'll be back with more soon. Also, please leave us a review! It'd mean the world to us. _

_**Dedication; **__Catie. We love you so much, girlie. You're the greatest. This whole story is all for you, seriously, and it's because we love you like that. We hope you'll enjoy this story as well, through all the chapters!_

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own High School Musical, or the song 'Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me?'. _

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	2. Chapter Two

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Two**

**A Kiss of Halloween**

"_I don't know how to tell you this, but…" the woman on the other end of the phone took a breath and softly said: "your sister was in a car crash."_

Ryan was in shock, he seriously could not breathe. Wasn't Sharpay in her room, trying to push all of the arguing out of her system and get some sleep? He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked around, thinking of something to say. But he just couldn't. He was too scared, scared for his sister. What was wrong with her? Was she okay? He needed to say something to the woman; he wasn't just going to stand there, was he?

"Sharpay?" was all he could say.

"Yes, Sharpay." He looked around the room, looking for Sharpay, but she wasn't going to be in _his_ room. He needed to check her own room.

He managed to tell the woman, "be right back" and he left his cell on his bed, walking along the corridor to Sharpay's room. The walk to her room seemed to take forever, it was dragging and dragging and although their house was big, the corridor wasn't that long.

He opened her door, the smell of her perfumed scent rushing out the door and into his nostrils. He took a deep breath in and knocked softly on the open door, looking inside. There was no answer, no answer at all. Not even a shuffle about.

"Shar?" He said, stepping further into the room, and looking at the messed up quilt covers on her bed. He looked around the room, checking everywhere in her room. Then he realised he had missed her walk in closet, he walked up to it and opened it.

"Sharpay, are you in here?" Once again, no answer. He closed the door to the closet and sat on her bed. He didn't dare go downstairs, and he didn't think Sharpay would either. He wanted check everywhere upstairs, but he was afraid, what happened if the floorboards creaked, and his Mom and Dad heard? He would be dead; he was supposed to be asleep.

Once more, he turned his head, looking around the room, noticing nothing new. He felt a shiver on the back of his neck, he turned to see the window was a little open and the curtains were flowing. He went up to the window and opened it, looking out at all the other houses outside. No sign of her.

"Shit," he exclaimed and walked back into his own room.

He picked up his cell phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello." The woman said, returning to her 'normal' happy tone of voice.

"Sharpay's in-in… hospital?" he stuttered, hoping she wasn't and this was just an un-called for prank.

"Yes, that's correct."

"What-What happened?"

"It was just a little car crash,"

"Little, HOW LITTLE?!" he raised his voice, getting more worried by the minute.

"It was just a… collision with another car."

"…what?"

"She's okay, I mean she's just… unconscious."

"Just?! Ugh, you hospital people annoy me to hell!" He sat down on his bed, slamming his hand down on it angrily. "What injuries does she have?"

"She has a_ small_ injury to the head. The doctor says she'll be fine and dandy in the morning. You can come see her then."

"Oh, okay… Are you sure she's okay?"

"Yes, absolutely." He hung up his phone, without saying goodbye. That woman was just too happy to be real; it was like she was a robot. Getting programmed to say all this crap.

Ryan set down his cell back where it was and flung himself onto his bed. He was really worried; he wanted her to be fine. He wanted her to be able to go to school tomorrow, go to drama, have classes and more. He just wanted her to be okay, that was normal for a brother, right?

He lay on his back, closing his eyes but all he could see was his parent's fighting and Sharpay in a hospital bed. He opened his eyes again and shook his head. He really didn't want to think of them things, he wanted to think of happy good things, or he wouldn't be able to get some sleep.

He had just realised that the fighting had died down, he sat up, trying to listen closely for any other signs the 'war' was still on. As soon as he sat up, the shouting started again. He sighed and pulled the covers over himself and the pillow over his head, trying to block it out. Tomorrow wasn't going to be a good day.

--

His alarm clock rang, blasting through the whole room. He groaned and sat up, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth and turned his alarm off. He instantly thought of Sharpay and seeing her. He done the normal things that every teenage boy did on a morning. He took a five minute shower, combed his hair, shoved on some clothes and grabbed his cell.

He trudged down the stairs, half asleep. Thankfully the 'rents weren't awake yet, and he was so glad about that. He didn't want to explain the whole Sharpay situation to them. They would freak. He grabbed a banana and a bottle of water out of the fridge, then going to grab Sharpay's keys he realised they weren't there. She'd crashed it. How was he going to get to school?

"Damn, um…" He looked at his Dad's keys and quickly grabbed them and ran out before anyone noticed.

He drove to the hospital, very carefully in his Dad's car. He stepped out of it and shut the door, locking them and entering the hospital. He walked up to the woman at the counter.

"Sharpay Evans," he said, very distractedly.

"Oh, you're Mr. Evans?" He nodded, not looking at the woman or paying any attention to her at all. "I spoke to you on the phone… last night?" He nodded again.

"Can you just tell me where she is, please?" The woman nodded and gave directions to Sharpay's private room.

He made his way to the room, as fast as he could. He saw the room number and knocked quite loud so if she was asleep she would wake up.

"Come in!" She said, in her sing-song voice. Ryan stepped in the room and shut the door behind him. As soon as he looked at Sharpay he heard her screech.

"RYAAAANNN, HIHIHIHI! I MISSED YOU." She said, with a child-like voice.

"Yeah, missed you too."

The two twins happily chatted along with each other and Ryan started to notice her child-like movements and voice. He looked at her to see if there was anything different. Nothing. Well, she had a couple of cuts on her head and hands, of which Ryan could see.

"Ryan?" Ryan looked up and into her eyes, "why am I here?"

"Why are you where?"

"Here. In the hospital." Ryan looked at her confused, she didn't remember?

"The accident?" He said, trying to make it easier for her.

"What accident? Did Mommy have an accident? Did Daddy?!" The fear of her parent's harm swept into her eyes like a broom sweeping up some forgotten dust.

"No, no… you."

"Me?" She giggled, "I didn't have an accident, silly."

"What?"

Sharpay looked at Ryan; there was something different about him. He was a lot taller, his hair was darker and his face looked so much older than before. He looked like he'd lost a little weight, and his muscles were bigger. He was wearing clothes that he wouldn't have worn before, and he didn't have a hat on. He talked differently; his voice was deeper in pitch.

Ryan had changed, and so had Sharpay.

"Sharpay, what's the last thing you remember?" Ryan asked, curiously.

"Hmm…" she got a 'thinking' look on her face. "The Halloween party,"

"What Halloween party?"

"Troy's."

"…" Ryan didn't say anything. He remembered that night, five years ago…

_Sharpay took a sip of her blackcurrant juice and set it down on the buffet table which had a Halloween covering on it. She was at Troy's house, he was having a Halloween party, and of course she was invited. She looked around the room; there were people dancing and people sitting down. There was music in the background and at this very moment 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson was on. She looked at all the people dancing to the music and laughed. They just couldn't dance, at all._

_She ushered everyone off of the dance floor, and told them that there was a special performance by the Evans twins._

"_Ryan, can we do thriller?" She asked and Ryan nodded, and then smiled._

_Ryan nodded and as Sharpay said "A-five six seven eight!" Sharpay and Ryan began to dance. They'd performed this dance at a show at school. Sharpay and Ryan danced and danced till the song was over, and at the end, Ryan lifted Sharpay up in the air as an ending position. _

_Everyone clapped, smiling at the twins. Sharpay curtsied and Ryan bowed. Troy stood at the sidelines smiling at Sharpay, he liked her. _

_Troy walked up to Sharpay, just smiling at her, not being able to find the words to say even a simple "hi". Sharpay turned to him and smiled too._

"_Hey Troy," he smiled and took her hand, pulling her outside to a white wooden bench._

"_Sit down?" She nodded and they both sat down on the bench._

"_You want anything in particular?"_

"_Yes." She smiled and looked into his deep blue pools. "I wanted to give you this:"_

_He moved closer to her and put his lips onto hers, she flinched at first, she wasn't expecting this. She was expecting for him to invite her somewhere else or something. She closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side, as he did the opposite. _

_He broke the kiss and smiled at her._

"_Wow." They said in unison, and then laughed._

"_That was nice," she took his hand._

"_Yeah, happy Halloween,"_

"_And to you too, Troy."_

_They sat there for fifteen minutes, just enjoying the presence of each other. They didn't know what to say to each other, it was a weird sensation._

When Sharpay was eleven, everyone actually liked her. She was nice, not mean at all. She used to help people with homework, she used to be smart. But somehow she never was anymore.

"Sharpay, that was five years ago." Sharpay looked at him and laughed, shaking her head.

"You're wrong, that was yesterday." She nodded to herself, and Ryan shook his head.

"You were in an accident, a car accident. The crash must have made you loose five years of your life…"

"Five years? So that's why you look taller and your voice is lower?" He nodded and she let out an "Oh."

"That's just great…"

"Wait, I'm…" She counted in her head. "Sixteen?!"

All of a sudden the door of her private room burst open, and in the doctor came.

"Ah, Mr. Evans, hello." He put his hand in front of Ryan.

"Hi." He said, not bothering to shake his hand. "And call me Ryan."

"Okay, Ryan… you're sister. She's been in a crash."

"Yeah, I got told that like, YESTERDAY."

"Oh right, yeah… you did. Okay, well…"

The doctor told Ryan what was wrong with her. Sharpay had lost five years of her life; she couldn't remember any of it. The last thing she remembered was the party, and everything before that. Nothing after it. The doctor mentioned to Ryan, as he tried to stay calm, that him and her original friends needed to try and jog her memory. He'd need the help of all their friends from school. He couldn't let her life like this, he was gonna get her, her life back.

--

Ryan slowly pulled his dad's car into the parking lot at school. It had been one heck of a morning. He had never, once in his life thought, he'd experience something like that. He had noticed immediately that she was acting different. That her voice was more child-like, but he hadn't thought more about it. Not until she mentioned the Halloween party as 'yesterday'.

He had been totally shocked to learn the truth. How could it be possible, not to remember what had happened in your life for five years? So much had happened, it was crazy. Five years ago she had been a child, now, she was a woman.

She had been totally shocked herself, when Ryan had held up a mirror for her to see herself. She had screamed bloody murder, but who could blame her? She was a grown-up now. She had changed so much. She was fascinated with her long, golden locks. And just the curve of her own body, had gotten her struck. And Ryan knew he would have acted the same way too. If he only remembered the Sharpay from five years ago, and then saw her now, he wouldn't believe it was the same person.

He slowly made his way out of the car, and locked it safely behind him. He was gonna miss Sharpay's pink car, in some weird way. Though he felt embarrassed being seen in it, it was still a part of him, and he had always believed she'd drive him to school in her pink car, through the rest of their schooling at East High.

He took a good hold of his school bag, and crossed the lot, to the school. The double doors were open, because everyone was standing there, so he made his way right through, looking for his friends. He had no idea how to tell them. It was gonna be so hard. Sharpay had really become friends with them after Lava Springs, just as he had become. They all accepted her, though she was slightly different and obsessive. They liked her, and she accepted them, and she also finally gave up on Troy. She knew he liked Gabriella, so she gave up, and moved on. He was so proud of her.

He found them by Troy's locker.

"Hi Ryan!" Gabriella smiled, hugging him tight, "Where's Shar?"

"She's sick," Ryan said, ignoring the stinging he got in his chest, just thinking about it. He also didn't want to get into the whole thing right now. It could wait until later. He was gonna have to warn everyone, not to reveal too much of her life to begin with. They would have to take it slow, and it had to be the people she cared about the most that told her. If some random guy, she didn't know before, started talking to her, she might get really scared.

"Oh, really?" Taylor asked, as she hugged him too, "Nothing serious, I hope."

Ryan just shook his head, and swallowed hard.

"Do we go to homeroom?" Chad suggested, motioning for the classroom, just down the hall.

They all nodded, while Troy responded with a, "Yeah, let's go."

--

During lunch, they were all sitting by the Drama table. Sharpay's absence was noticed, because she wasn't one to get sick. Actually, Ryan could never remember Sharpay skipping school. She always went, even if she had fever. She was like that. She was very determined, but that was what they all loved about her. It was one of her good qualities, only of course, if she didn't use it to get her way, to get them along on one of her crazy ideas.

"…wrote down our homework, do you think you can bring it back home with you Ryan?" Gabriella finished, snapping him out of his trance, "It's just for Sharpay, because who knows how long she'll be sick, and she can't get behind in school That'll do her no good."

Ryan shook his head, and placed his fork on the table, "No, no, I don't think she'll be needing that. Thank you though, Gabriella. She has a lot of other things on her mind right now, I know it."

Kelsi looked confused, "What do you mean, Ryan?"

Ryan awkwardly stood up, and went to the balcony, looking out at all his schoolmates. He knew he could holler enough for them to hear, so that was what he did. They all turned to look at him, confused. Ryan wasn't the loud twin, he was the quiet, shy one, so they knew it had to be something important, if he actually yelled.

"Everybody!" Ryan said, as a shiver went down his spine. It was the first time he did something like this, without Sharpay by his side, "I have an… an announcement to make." He swallowed loudly, "You might have noticed that Sharpay isn't here today."

Taylor was immediately alarmed. She shot out of her seat, and stood next to him, a comforting hand on his shaking arm.

He shot her an appreciate smile, "Thanks Tay…" he whispered, before speaking up again, "Sharpay was in a car crash, yesterday."

Immediately, murmurs and whispers started floating through the clouded cafeteria, but Ryan cleared his throat, and continued;

"She's fine. The only problem is that… She doesn't remember the last five years of her life. They're gone. She believes she's 11. And you can imagine what shock it was to her, to learn she's actually 16. What I need you all to do now, is that you won't mention too much about her past. Don't look weirdly at her, if she acts younger. The only people aloud to help her remember, are the people close to her. That's me and the gang. I hope you'll all respect that."

He didn't wait for them to answer, he turned around, and heavily sat down at his chair again. The others just looked at him. Kelsi's mouth was hanging wide open. Gabriella's salad was hanging weirdly from her fork. Chad had questions in his brown pools, and Troy swallowed loudly. The rest of them did nothing, until Taylor spoke;

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Ryan shrugged, "It was yesterday evening. She went out, and crashed. I went to see her this morning, and guys… She was so weird. She really acted like an 11-year-old. At first, I couldn't really tell, but then later, I was just…"

"Oh my God…" Gabriella whimpered, as she let the tears spill, "I can't believe it! It's so sad."

Zeke padded her on the arm, "Just be glad she didn't get hurt any worse!" he reminded her.

"I'm thankful for that." Ryan assured them all, before Gabriella managed to open her mouth, "But I almost couldn't comprehend it. You should have seen her, when she looked herself in the mirror. Troy…" he turned to the blue-eyed boy, "You must remember what she looked like at age 11?"

"Sure," Troy nodded, fiddling with his sandwich, "I had a huge crush on her back then…"

Ryan actually chuckled, "Yeah… Boy, did she like you too! …anyway, the last thing she remembered was your Halloween party. The doctor said something really special must have happened that night, for it to be _exactly _there her memory stopped. Something really wonderful for her must have trigged it, must have left her wanting to stay there, and remember that night. To stay there forever."

Troy blushed a deep red colour, and stared at the table. His action didn't go unnoticed by the guys, and Jason nudged Chad in the side, which seemed to trig his memory.

"Oh God!" he laughed, "Don't tell me it was that night you guys-"

"Schuss!" Troy cut him off, sending a worried glance in Gabriella's direction.

"You guys what?" Kelsi wanted to know, "What happened with you and Sharpay?"

Troy quickly looked at Gabriella, before turning to Ryan, "Ah… Sharpay and I sorta… kissed that night. It was my first kiss, anyway."

"For real?!" Taylor couldn't help but laugh, "Oh my God Troy, that's so _kinky_!"

"Oh please!" Troy snapped, and teasingly hit her across the arm, "We were 11, alright? We were just kids…"

"Kids big enough to kiss…" Gabriella dared to tease.

Troy rolled his eyes, and bent his neck.

"Anyway," Ryan cut in, but couldn't help but smile because of their silliness, "I just wanted you guys to help me. We need to help her get her memory back, but little by little. We can't reveal too much at once. And we shouldn't start with all the big things, but with the small."

"Move along slowly." Chad said, nodding his head, which made his 'fro bounce up and down.

"Yeah," Ryan said, shrugging his shoulders, "You guys are the people who knows her the best. So it's up to you. And me. You will help me, right?"

"Of course Ryan," Gabriella said, as she leaned forward to hug him, "Sharpay's our friend. We can't have her acting like a little child."

"It'll take a lot of work." Ryan reminded them, as he pulled back.

"But we're in." Kelsi promised, with a huge smile.

--

Ryan knocked on Sharpay's room door, and waited for her reply. When she answered, he peeked his head inside, and saw her sitting there, watching 'Totally Spies'. She looked away from the TV screen when she realized it was him, and turned it off, with a flick of her finger.

"Rysie!" she cheered, opening her arms out.

He immediately hugged her tight, "Shar, I've missed you." he mumbled, and pulled back, to get more comfortable by the side of her bed.

"How was… school?" she asked, her brown eyes digging into his blue ones.

"It was okay. Everybody missed you." Ryan offered her a sad smile, and held her hand.

"Who's everyone?" Sharpay asked, as she swallowed hard, "I mean… Do I have friends now? Do I have a… boyfriend?"

Ryan shook his head, "You don't have a boyfriend, but you have a lot of friends, who all cares about you." he held his hand up, and started counting on it, "You have me, Troy.."

Sharpay giggled, and hid her face in her hands, "…he kissed me yesterday." She said, as her cheeks turned red.

Ryan just nodded, "Yeah, that's great."

She lowered her hands again, and smiled a huge smile, "Who else is my friend?"

"You remember Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie, right?" Ryan asked, and by her nod, he continued, "They're two of your very good friends, as well. Plus, Kelsi of course. But she was your friend five years ago, too."

Sharpay nodded.

"…and then there's one more," Ryan said, "But you don't remember her, 'cuz she moved here last winter. She's probably your closest friend. Her name is Gabriella."

"Gabriella?" Sharpay looked puzzled.

"Yeah, she's a great friend, you'll meet her tomorrow." Ryan promised her, as he locked her hand in his big one, again. He was still getting used to talking to her like this. He couldn't help but use his baby-voice, though he knew he shouldn't. She wasn't a baby, she was 11 years old. She _had_ kissed a boy, even in her 'own world'. He hadn't kissed a girl at age 11!

"T-tomorrow?" Sharpay asked, her eyes getting wide, as questions floated through them.

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, you're going to school tomorrow. I talked to mom and dad. They know everything. And since you can't skip school, you're going with me."

Immediately, small tears found their way into the corners of her eyes, "But I don't want to!" she exclaimed, as she pulled her legs up beneath herself, hugging them tightly to her chest, "I don't wanna go, Rysie… I'm scared. They'll all hate me."

"No, they won't." he promised her, as he wrapped his arms around her shaking form, "They'll all love you."

"But they won't…" she hiccupped, "They'll think I'm weird. I'm really scared Ryan, I don't want to."

"Don't worry," he promised her, as he kissed the top of her head, "I'll be there with you. I won't let them hurt you."

She sniffed, "Thank you, Rysie."

--

After school, Troy, Gabriella, Kelsi, Taylor and Chad were hanging around in Troy's backyard. Chad and Troy were throwing a basketball between them, while the girls were doing homework. Kelsi had a problem with her math assignment, and who better ask than the smartest girls in the school?

"Wow…" Kelsi muttered, as she watched Taylor do a problem for her, "That's so tough! You wouldn't think I was 16, would you? How can I be so stupid?"

"You shouldn't complain." Gabriella muttered. She had been kinda still since they got there. She hadn't even wanted to help with the math assignment, which was very weird for her, she just wanted to sit there, and stare into space.

Kelsi looked up, confused, "What do you mean?" she asked, the sun reflecting in her round glasses.

Gabriella sat up with a heavy sigh, "I'm thinking about Sharpay…" she told them, which caused the guys to stop playing basketball, and actually listen instead, "I mean, this math…" she pointed at Kelsi's work, "…this math will be stuff she's never even seen before. She's still only getting to learn how to multiply! She's gonna get so behind in school, I'm gonna have to help her…"

Troy sat down next to her, and put a comforting arm around her, "Yeah, I've thought about it, Gab," he said, "But we can't do more than help her, alright? We can help her with her homework, along with working on her memory. We're her friends, we should."

"Yeah, and we will…" Taylor promised, a smile on her face. She was really moved about how Gabriella thought so much of Sharpay and helping her. Sharpay hadn't been nice to her before, she had been very mean. But they were friends now, and Gabriella was very forgiving. Taylor herself, along with Chad, was not near as forgiving as her…

"I'm just really upset, that's all…" Gabriella said, as tears started to spill down her cheeks, and Troy pulled her closer, "I didn't want to cry in front of Ryan, 'cuz he's her brother… But… I'm really upset. I was really upset, and I couldn't help it."

"We all are." Chad said, nodding his head, "But remember Gabriella. She isn't all that nice to us. Especially not you. You shouldn't worry that much. Remember all that stuff she did to you this summer? And during the call-backs…"

"Most importantly this summer…" Taylor chipped in.

Gabriella sniffed, "Yeah, I remember…" she said, wiping her face quickly, "But just think about it… Sharpay doesn't. She doesn't remember anything…"

That moment something struck Chad and Taylor. It could probably be one of the reasons they made such a perfect couple; they had a lot of the same ideas. They had evil minds when they wanted to, and right now… Oh, something evil was being thought.

"_She_ doesn't…" they exclaimed, their voices as one.

Kelsi looked scared, "Oh wow.. What are you two cooking up now?" she asked, throwing her pencil in the grass. She wouldn't get more math done anyway, not with Chad and Taylor thinking alike. That proved something was up.

Chad stood up, getting ready to speak his case, "Sharpay _doesn't_ remember what she's done in the last five years," he begun, looking at them all, "She has no clue what went on with _Twinkle Town_, she has no idea she tried to sabotage the call-backs. She doesn't know she tried to 'steal' Troy away this summer. She has no clue."

Taylor stood up as well, crossing her arms firmly, "And if I remember correctly; 11-year-old Sharpay wasn't mean. She was very nice. Nice enough for us to actually like her…"

"Before we disliked her and then liked her again!" Kelsi chipped in, from the grass.

"She was nice." Taylor finished, with a smile.

Gabriella shrugged, "I highly doubt that, Tay. And really, where are you guys going with this? It has no meaning whatsoever. Even if she was nice back then, and is mean now, she still deserves our help."

"Yeah…" Chad said, an evil smile plastered on his face, "But who says we can't …" he searched for the right words, and when he finally found them, he used air quotes, "…'fix' her life? Make her all the more _sweet_?"

The suggestion hung in the air, as Troy's mom called them all in for fresh baked cookies.

* * *

_Ta-dah! Sorry for the wait, but that was chapter two! We really hope you liked it. It'll probably be awhile before we update again, 'cuz we're both a bit slow. Sorry about it, we hope it's okay!_

_And it's Catie's birthday today, so we hurried to get this chapter done! This story is all for her, so we needed to update today, lolz! We love you, honey. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!_

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own High School Musical._

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	3. Chapter Three

Brain Drain 

**Chapter Three**

**There's Something About Barbie**

Sharpay was still asleep; she didn't want to get up. She had to go back to school, where everyone knew about her, except herself. She couldn't believe she was in High School, in her mind, she'd skipped five years. She didn't know anything, none of her studies, how was she going to catch up? Maybe Ryan could help her?

Sharpay opened her eyes a little, to the light shining in through the windows. She rubbed them and turned on her side, cuddling her teddy bear which she called "Teddy". She had gotten it when she was born, Ryan had got one too, but he didn't want it anymore. He still had it though, it was somewhere amongst all his clothes and hats. He didn't really care, but Sharpay did. It looked older, but she didn't really notice that much. She was really tired when she had come back from the hospital.

She opened her eyes fully, not realising where she was. She jerked upright, she looked around, this wasn't her room? She started to panic, throwing the quilt off of her and standing upright on the floor, she looked down at her feet. They weren't her feet, they were bigger and her toenails were painted pink. She stumbled a little, but managed to walk to the door and pop her head out of it.

"Mommy?" She looked up and down the corridor; she recognised it a little bit. Yeah, she did. It was her house; it was the house she loved. She stepped out into the perfectly heated corridor, looking down at her parent's door. She tip-toed down to it and knocked on the door. She waited, and waited, and waited… no answer. Maybe they were sleeping? Sharpay quietly opened the door; no one was in the bed. It was perfectly made; it looked like no one had slept in it for years.

She looked down the staircase, the TV wasn't on, and she couldn't hear anyone moving or talking. Maybe they were out, but why would they be out at this time in the morning? She looked around, and then her eye caught Ryan's door. She walked along the corridor, gently not trying to make any noise in case there was someone else in the house, trying to sleep. She knocked on the door, and she heard a grunting noise. She opened the door carefully.

"RyRy?" She peeped her head into the door and saw him sleeping soundly. "Ryyyyyyyan?" She sang in a sing-song tone. She came fully into the room and walked over to him, shaking him a little, trying to awake him. "Ryan?" She raised her voice a little. She sat on the bed and crouched down to his ear, "RYAN."

"Huh, what?" He jerked up, causing Sharpay to fall off of the bed. She clung to Teddy and squinted her eyes together, trying not to cry.

"Aw, come on Shar. That couldn't have hurt!" She whimpered, moving away from him slightly.  
"Did too," she said in her child-like tone. Then Ryan clicked on, he forgot about her car crash, he had forgotten that she'd lost five years of her life.  
"Oh god, Sharpay I'm sorry." He clambered off of the bed and sat next to her, pulling her into a hug. "Sh, don't cry sis. It's alright." She shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"Don't wanna go to school."

"But you have to; everyone wants to see how you're doing."

"Everyone?" Her eyes lit up.

"Yeah! Everyone," he stopped for a moment and clenched his teeth. "They all miss you!" Telling her for the second time.

"Who does?"  
"The gang, I told you all this yesterday!"

"Oh yeah, will Troyie-Boyie be there?" Her cheeks turned a slight red color; she looked down, smiling into her knees. Ryan nodded, and simply replied with a "yeah".

He wasn't at all psyched about this thing with her and Troy. He was worried about Sharpay; Troy didn't really like her at all now. He knew that because of last summer, with the country club and everything.

"Okay, well let's get you ready for school, 'Kay?" Sharpay nodded, and jumped up, pulling Ryan up with her. She took his hand and pulled him to her room.

Ryan remembered when Sharpay was eleven, she was nice and kind and everything but she still got everything she wanted. She was stubborn back then, nothing had changed there. She was stubborn now!

Their Mom used to help Sharpay into her clothes every morning, sorting them out for her, making sure they matched and whatever. But one thing was, Sharpay knew how to put her clothes on, she just refused to do it. She didn't have much sense of style back then; she didn't know what went with what or what shoes to wear. She wasn't that kind of girl.

Sharpay practically pulled Ryan's arm out of the socket, pulling him along to her room. She stepped inside, let go of his hand and immediately ran over and jumped onto her bed. Ryan jadedly dragged his feet along the floor, walking over to her closet. He opened it and looked through.

"What do you want to wear?" She shrugged, and he turned around. "Huh?" She shrugged again. "Aw, come on Sharpay. You always choose your clothes."

"Nuh-uh, Mom chooses them!" Ryan sighed.

"Oh yeah, right…" He turned back to the closet and shouted out some random colors: "…pink, blue, green, black, orange, yellow…?" He continued shouting them out, but Sharpay was just stubbornly shrugging her shoulders.

"Come on Sharpay, at this rate we're not even going to make it to school." Her face brightened up. "Don't even think about it!"

Finally, after fifteen minutes of choosing her clothes to wear, it came to the point Ryan was dreading:

He had to dress her.

He didn't want to see his sister's body, did he? No way, ho-say! He'd rather eat a live cockroach. He'd seen that on television, it was utterly disgusting.

"Right, come on…" She hopped up from the bed, skipping over to him and lifting her hands up for him to remove her night-dress. He closed his eyes and lifted her night-dress over her head, not looking at her body that was angelically standing in front of her.

"Turn around," he asked her, as she turned around. He unhooked her bra, and removed her underwear, carefully placing new, clean ones onto her body.

"There," he had dressed her.

"Thank-a-yoooouu."

"You owe me, BIG TIME!" Sharpay nodded and looked at herself in the mirror.

Sharpay was wearing a mini skirt, with a white halter neck top on. She had a heart-shaped necklace that hung perfectly around her neck, and diamond ear-rings. She placed her real Ugg boots on, and smiled at herself in the mirror. All she needed now was make-up and her hair done.

"Okay, just brush through your hair and that'll be done. And you need make-up on." Sharpay looked at him.

"I don't wanna wear make-up," Ryan looked at her.

"Oh right, yeah… okay." He looked at Sharpay, she didn't look completely different but she looked different when she had no make-up on. Her face looked a lot more natural, and she actually looked prettier. She didn't wear a lot of make-up usually, but she used some just for a natural glow.

"I look different," she said, as Ryan nodded.

"Yeah, you've grown since you were eleven." He looked at her, "A LOT." She giggled and nodded, grabbing her bag and Barbie doll from the bed.

--

They got to the school, but Sharpay stopped dead in her tracks and shook her head, walking away from the gigantic High School that was standing in front of her. Ryan turned around, gently taking her hand, making sure she stayed with him the whole time. He let her know that he was there for her, and that she could talk to him anytime.

Normally, their twin bonding wasn't like this. Ryan kind of enjoyed this type of relationship with Sharpay, it was a lot calmer and they didn't fight or shout. Ryan loved this Sharpay, she wasn't as mean or nasty and she accepted everyone for who they were, she didn't judge them by their looks or hobbies, she judged them by their personalities and that's what he loved about this Sharpay.

He looked to her, nodding and they entered the corridor, where all the students were rushing around, trying to get to their homeroom's in time. Sharpay had no idea where anything was, this was all new to her. The school looked huge, she felt like a freshman. She got dragged along by Ryan, while she got funny looks, and people were glaring at her. She just smiled at them.

She clenched her Barbie doll in her left hand, as Ryan pulled her right. People were looking at the Barbie and laughing, maybe they all hated her, already? Ryan looked around, glaring at all of them, he had told them yesterday to lay off. Once they seen Ryan's glare, they stopped laughing and continued doing what they were doing.

As they entered homeroom, the whole class turned and looked at the twins. Sharpay let go of Ryan's hand and waved.

"Hi, I'm-I'm Sharpay." She scanned the crowd of students for anyone she could recognise, nope, no one whatsoever. They all looked so old, and scary.

A teacher walked over to her, and looked her straight into the eye.

"Sharpay, my darling! How are you?" Sharpay's eyes widened.

"Uh… I-I… uh…" Sharpay stuttered.

"Well, so she has changed!" Jason said as a chorus of "shushes" arrived in his direction. Sharpay looked around again, looking for someone she knew. She looked to Ryan.  
"RyRy?" Some of the jocks sniggered, except for Troy and Zeke. Ryan blushed a little but looked at his sister, "who are all these people?"

Ryan introduced Sharpay to everyone around the class and then lastly to the gang, who were going to "fix" her life, which of course, Ryan knew nothing about.

"Okay so this is Gabriella, who I told you about. She moved here after winter break?" Sharpay nodded and smiled at Gabriella, keeping her eyes fixed onto her, scanning her.  
"You're pretty." She told Gabriella, who smiled and gave a simple "thanks".

"This is Taylor and Chad, you must remember them." Sharpay gasped, everyone looked towards her.

"Chad, your hair is amazing!" She giggled as he touched it, modestly.

"Why thank you." He smiled at her, playing along with her new 'niceness', if you could call it that.

"And Taylor? Wow…" Taylor looked up, "You look really… old-er." Taylor laughed, "not to be rude, or anything. It was a compliment!"

The whole gang realised her new personality and looks, they couldn't get over how nice she used to be. What happened to her? Why did she become so, well, icy? She complimented everyone when she met them again, but when Ryan came to introduce Troy, Sharpay didn't recognise him, **at all**.

"Hi, what's your name?" She turned to Ryan, "Is he new too?" She giggled, "That rhymed!" Ryan looked at her.

"You don't recognise him?" Sharpay shook her head.

"Should I?" Ryan nodded as Sharpay took a closer look at him.

She scanned his face, his mouth, ears, and nose. She looked at his hair and what he was wearing; nothing tricked a switch in her brain. She really thought Troy had come with Gabriella or something, she didn't know who it was, at all.

Sharpay looked at his face again, looking into his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, it was Troy.

"…" She couldn't say anything, she didn't know whether she still liked him or not now, of course the eleven year old Sharpay did. But was the older Sharpay anything like the younger Sharpay anymore? She had to act more mature, or was the older Sharpay more mature? All this thinking of the older and younger, and older and younger Sharpay was really confusing her.

"T-Troy?" Troy smiled at her and nodded.

"Hey."

Sharpay just stared at him, getting lost into his deep blue pools. She remembered them eyes, them eyes from the night of the party she oh-so enjoyed. She remembered the kiss, the feel of his lips on hers. The feeling that everything in the whole world was going right, and that everyone was happy. But the thing was, Sharpay couldn't remember what happened after that special moment. Was he meant to kiss her?

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Troy stood up and smiled at her.

"This is your seat; it's in front of Ryan's." Sharpay nodded and sat down, looking around the class. They were all looking at her, and whispering. Gabriella stood up and walked over to her.  
"Hey!"

"…Hi." She whispered, looking up to Gabriella.

"I'm here for you, okay? I heard what happened and stuff, it's weird for me too. We were… are best friends. If there is anything, and I mean **anything** you need to talk about, my door is always open." Gabriella smiled, pulling Sharpay into a hug.

"Thank you," Sharpay flung her hands around of Gabriella, hugging her back. As she flung her hands round, the Barbie doll flew out of her left hand and onto the floor. She pushed Gabriella away, softly and kneeled down to the floor, picking it up.

"Why do you have a Barbie doll?" Taylor asked, looking weirdly at her.

She stared up at Taylor with wide, brown eyes, and hugged her Barbie closer, "…she's my Barbie." She whispered, and stood up, as she played with the blonde hair on the Barbie, "I know most girls at my age, don't play with Barbies, 'cuz they think it's lame, and too childish, but Mommy said it's okay to be different. I don't have to grow up so fast. Even if I am eleven."

Taylor offered her a weak smile, and reached out for the Barbie, knowing it was all about getting Sharpay's trust back. The girl who usually was so strong, seemed so weak – it was so frightening to see her like that, "Can I see her?" she asked.

"Sure!" Sharpay exclaimed, and her face lit up like a huge Christmas tree, "She's so cool! She's the one who looks like Cinderella when you buy her. Daddy just bought me some other clothes for her when we went to the mall last weekend. They bought RyRy some clothes for his dolly too." She leaned in, and whispered in Taylor's ear, "…he doesn't want anyone to know that he likes playing with dollies."

"I can understand that," Taylor said, and handed the Barbie back to Sharpay, as her eyes moved to Ryan. Why could she just picture an 11-year-old Ryan sitting in the grass, with his dollies?

"What now?" Sharpay asked, and jumped onto the table, looking around the classroom. She was getting more comfortable with Taylor. She actually reminded her a lot of the Taylor she remembered, though she looked different.

"School's starting." Gabriella replied, in a soft voice, "We're having Mrs. Darbus for homeroom."

"Who's Mrs. Darbus?" Sharpay asked.

"She's your favourite teacher, Shar." Ryan butted in, "Mine too, of course. She's the Drama teacher. You simply love her. You still enjoy theatre."

"Really, am I good at it?" Sharpay asked, moving onto her chair, hanging over the back of it, to stare at Ryan, "Did you and I get to be the stars of every school production, like we dreamed of?"

Ryan was about to answer, and Gabriella wished he wouldn't, since it would ruin their plan to 'fix' her life. Luckily, she didn't have to worry that much about it, because Mrs. Darbus had entered the classroom, shutting all conversation off.

Sharpay hummed silently to herself, and Ryan watched her back. He knew she was acting childish, but she'd always been like that. Most 11-year-olds were civilized people, but Sharpay had never been ordinary. She acted more like a child than she was, because it got her what she wanted from their parents, and also; she just wasn't that developed. She was one of the last girls to act like a teenager. Sure, she'd kissed Troy, but it hadn't really been like that… It had probably been one of those crushes most children get.

He noticed everyone around the room was staring at her, and he wished he could tell them to stop. Luckily, Sharpay didn't realize it, because she was absorbed in her own world, Barbie in front of her, and _Spice Girls_ song, coming from her lips.

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle, when he remembered her _Spice Girls_ obsession.

--

"Your next class is with me," Gabriella told her, taking a good hold of Sharpay's hand, because Sharpay seemed like she was comforted by close contact, "It's French. You're probably gonna have huge trouble following, but I'll sit right beside you, okay?"

Sharpay stared up at her, love covering her features. She knew she'd told Gabriella earlier, just how pretty she thought she was, but it still blew her away. She was so natural to look at, and she didn't wear that much make-up, as some of the older girls did!, "Right beside me?" she asked.

"I'm here for you," Gabriella replied, as they sat down by their tables, "Don't worry."

Sharpay smiled, and reached out to touch her cheeks, "You're very, very pretty. I wish I looked like you… Your make-up is really pretty too. Some of the girls already started using make-up, but I think we're too young. Kelsi and I don't. We're gonna wait 'till we're at least thirty!"

"Oh really?" Gabriella couldn't help but sarcastically reply.

Sharpay looked a bit taken aback, "Why do you say it like that?" she asked her, her eyes tearing up, "Do I use make-up normally? It's so wrong…" she pushed her chair back, and moved away from Gabriella, "It's not fun…" she sniffed, "I don't wanna go on like this… It's bad to not remember!" and then she jumped out of her seat, grabbed her Barbie tighter, and rushed out of the classroom.

Gabriella turned around, and gaped at some of her classmates, who all shrugged. Then she figured, she couldn't let Sharpay run around in an unfamiliar place like this, when she was so scared, so she screwed class, and ran after her. Of course the other girl was already long gone, and the halls were emptying, when the ball rang. Gabriella hurried down the hallway, and slowed down, trying to listen. She thought she could hear faint sounds coming from one of the bathrooms, so she made her way in there, and was now sure, she could hear someone sobbing.

She approached the only locked bathroom stall, and gently tapped it, "Sharpay?" she questioned, voice soft, "I'm sorry I upset you. If you come out we can skip class, and I'll tell you all about your life? I can tell you about the time we met!"

The sobbing stopped, and she could hear Sharpay sniff, and blow her nose, "…really?" the blonde girl questioned, "Are you gonna tell me all about our friendship?"

"Everything you wanna know…" Gabriella assured her, ignoring the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. For some reason she didn't want to lie to Sharpay, they were best friends for Christ's sake! but if she did, Sharpay would be a lot nicer to be around. And the others would kill her if she backed out, "…so you wanna open the door and talk to me?"

She could hear the lock open, and sighed in relief. Sharpay's head peeked out of the stall, and Gabriella offered her a weak smile, and a hand, "Come here…" she said, and pulled her up, "I have just the place for us to sit…"

Sharpay nodded, and let Gabriella drag her out of the room, Barbie in hand. She couldn't help it. When she thought more about it, a Barbie wasn't that cool, when you were in high school, but she wasn't! …she wasn't the same as them. She was different. She shouldn't be in high school… she was allowed to play.

Gabriella dragged her all the way to the roof top, where she knew no one would be. First off; everyone was in classes, and second off; it was Troy's place. Rarely anyone used it. She pushed Sharpay onto the small bench, and sat down herself, taking Sharpay's hands in hers, to reassure her that everything would be alright.

"So?" Gabriella stated, a smile playing on her lips, "What do you want to know? Ask me anything, I'll answer, I promise."

"Tell me about the first time we met." Sharpay said. She just really wanted to know about their friendship, since Gabriella hadn't been there when she was eleven. It was sorta new to her, but she was happy about how quick she grew comfortable with the girl. It wasn't awkward at all, now.

"Well…" Gabriella trailed off, and thought back… she had to change it, so she decided to start with her and Troy, "I ran into Troy at this ski lodge, and we sang together at New Years…"

Sharpay cut her off; "Troy!? Singing!"

And then she started laughing.

Gabriella giggled along, "Yeah, you guys were really surprised, but anyway… We met there, and I didn't think I'd ever see him again. But then I started at this school, and was happy to realize he went here. I sorta liked him, y'know?"

Sharpay blushed a bit, and thought about her own kiss with him. She didn't want to tell Gabriella about it, when there was a possibility, she could be Troy's girlfriend, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, and then he didn't want me to tell his buddies about the singing-stuff," she continued, "But it had gotten him curious, so even though he knew it'd hurt you and Ryan he went to audition for the musical with me."

"Why'd it hurt me and Ryan?"

Gabriella bit her lip, "You guys had been in a lot of musicals, and everyone loved you. You were good friends with Troy, and he didn't want to take your show away," she lied, as her throat tightened up. No matter how guilty it made her feel, she couldn't help but realize how easy it was to lie. It was sorta scary.

"But he's my friend." Sharpay replied, as she played with her Barbie, made it walk across Gabriella's legs, "I would want good things for him. If he wanna sing, he can sing!"

Gabriella laughed, and couldn't help but find it weird how different Sharpay was. The 16-year-old Sharpay Evans would have never let Troy Bolton sing in her musical. Sure, they were friends now, and she shared the lime light with them, but they all knew who was the star, and curse those who dared to think differently.

"Yeah, he realized that…" Gabriella chipped, with another smile, "So we auditioned against each other in the call-backs. Troy and I won, because the school wanted different stars for once."

"You did!?" Sharpay happily exclaimed, and enveloped her in a tight hug, "Congratulations, Gabriella!" she said, and clapped her hands when she pulled back, "That's so awesome, I bet the show was great!"

"It really was… You and Ryan were there to support us all the way…" Gabriella said, "And really, after that we became great friends."

"Wow…" Sharpay said, a dreamy look in her eyes, "What a story."

"Yeah," Gabriella whispered, closing her eyes to relax for a second, "…what a story."

--

"…and this is the gym, where we have P.E., and the team practises basketball." Chad finished, holding the door open for Sharpay, who slowly entered, staring around the big gym in awe. Her Barbie was tucked in her hand, like it had been all day, and she sat down on one of the benches, looking at the two guys.

"So you're on a basketball team?" she asked them.

"Yeah, I'm the playmaker." Troy replied, and sat down next to her, "It's very good. We won the championship game."

"Aaaw, I wish I could remember." Sharpay said, and offered them a smile.

They looked at each other for awhile, but then Chad's cell started going off, and he quickly scanned the display. Seeing Taylor's name flash across it, he decided he better answer her.

"I'm just gonna take this…" he said, and hurried away, to have his conversation in private.

"So…" Troy said, and smiled at Sharpay, who was now playing with her Barbie again, "Do you like it here? Are people nice to you?"

"It's okay," Sharpay replied, not looking up from her 'game'.

Troy swallowed, and reached out to brush a piece of her hair out of her eyes, "You're really pretty without that make-up on, Sharpay… You look natural."

She looked up at him, but didn't say anything.

"Not that you're not pretty normally, but…" he stopped, and blinked, "It suits you. This look. I wish you'd been looking like that forever, and not that differently. Your clothes are different too."

Sharpay nodded, but didn't know how to respond to that. In her mind, a five year older guy just complimented her, and it made her feel all awkward. She couldn't ignore the tingle, though. The tingle she got when he touched her. She wasn't too sure what to put into that.

"Gabriella told me all about our friendship," she said, instead, to change the subject, "How you guys won the call-backs, and RyRy and I were there to support you all through the musical. I wish I could remember it! It sounded so great."

"Yeah…" Troy quickly nodded, "Yeah, you guys were great."

"Can you tell me more about my life?" Sharpay wanted to know, "Like, another main thing in my life? In our friendship?"

"Well…" Troy trailed off, with a smile on his lips, "Do you recall the Lava Springs Country Club?"

"Sure!" her face lit up, and she let Barbie be Barbie, to clap her hands, "Mommy and Daddy bought it when I was five! It's the coolest place. We spend every summer there!"

Troy laughed, "Yeah, and you did too this summer. You were sweet enough to get me and the guys jobs there, so we could save money for college. Chad was saving up for a car too, of course. And it was very great… In the breaks we all hung out and goofed off with each other."

Sharpay smiled; that sure did sound wonderful, "Wow… Seems like we had a great summer. What about the Talent Show? RyRy and I did it together, like always, right? I bet you and Gabriella did something too!"

"We did…" Troy nodded, and swallowed a little, as he had to get into the whole lie he and Chad had cooked up, "It was great, but… there was some mean girl, who tried to sabotage everything."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she didn't want the staff to be a part of the show, she wanted you and Ryan to win. I think she was some crazy fan of yours, and…" he paused, "She got her way. But luckily enough, you saved everything, and we were able to be a part of it. You even withdrew from the contest, so Gabriella and I could take your place and sing."

"Cool…" she whispered, her eyes wide, "What happened then?"

"We won the contest." Troy replied, with a shrug, "The bad girl learned a lesson, and then we had this huge pool party, and everyone was together!"

"All for one." Sharpay smiled, and turned to grab her Barbie as well.

Troy studied her for a second, struck by the comment. Did she remember anything, or was that subconsciously? It was very weird, and it scared him a bit. He decided not to say anything though, because it could ruin their plan, and that couldn't happen. The new Sharpay was already starting to grow on him. All she needed now was to let go of the childish behaviour, and they had a cool friend!

"Anyway," she said, and stood up, "I'm gonna go outside, and call Ryan to pick me up. See you tomorrow, Troysie."

"See you…" he waved, as she hurried out of the gym, the doors smacking close behind her. Just then Chad came back, and took a seat next to Troy, with a yawn.

"Taylor can surely babble." He said, and leaned back.

"Yeah…" Troy replied, not really paying attention. He was sorta stuck in Sharpay-world. He couldn't help but think about 'her before' contra 'her now'. It was weird how a few years, and a few actions, could do the difference.

"What happened?" Chad questioned.

"Told her about Lava Springs…" Troy said, and finally turned back to him, "She seems very happy."

"It's nice to have a sweet Sharpay for a change." Chad agreed, "And just think about it; she's still as hot, man. And then sweet! She's like the perfect girlfriend… When she grows up a bit, of course."

"Yeah…" Troy said, ignoring the feeling he got in the pit of his stomach, "Yeah, of course, dude!" he shot out of his seat, and grabbed his orange basketball, "Let's shoot some hoops!"

* * *

_There you have it guys. We're sorry for the long wait, but eh… We did warn you. We're so slow. We hope it was enjoyable to read though, and please leave a review, it means a lot to us. _

_Thanks for all the other great reviews, and we got some questions about Sharpay's personality. We do realize we write her a bit childish for an eleven year old. We had an explanation in this chapter, plus… We sorta do it a little over the top, to get a point across. We hope it's still believable. Alright? _

_Did anyone notice our great title? …remind you of anything? Cookies for anyone who can figure it out. _

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own High School Musical; we just like playing with it, like Sharpay plays with her Barbie. _

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	4. Chapter Four

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Four**

**Maturing With Complications **

It was Friday afternoon; everyone was leaving school, getting ready for the weekend ahead of them. Sharpay was standing in the hallway, waiting for Ryan to come. She was fiddling with her clothes, they were itching her and she thought they looked weird. She didn't look like anyone else in school; no one was wearing sparkly sequins like her. Most of the girls were just wearing jeans, and a cute top, but Sharpay wasn't.

Gabriella was walking down the hall with Taylor, she spotted Sharpay fiddling with her clothes and walked over to her, asking her what was wrong.

"You okay?" Sharpay just awkwardly nodded. "What's wrong?"

"These… cloth-clothes! They're too it-itchy…" Gabriella nodded and watched her fuss around.

"Well, why don't Taylor and I take you shopping?" Sharpay looked up.

"Wow, really?"

"Sure," Gabriella nodded her head and looked to Taylor who had a smile on her face.

The two girls had become rather fond of the new Sharpay, they really liked her. It was like her whole slate had been cleaned… well, it had. But they weren't quite sure how Sharpay was this nice back then, and why she wasn't like this now. Maybe it was something that happened, something really bad.

"So, tomorrow, I'll call you?" Sharpay nodded, she was really happy now. She wasn't fussing around anymore; maybe Gabriella and Taylor actually liked her? She had her doubts, but she'd made friends in high school, she was really excited.

Once Ryan appeared at their meeting place, she made him drive as fast as he could so she could rush home and get ready for tomorrow, this included: going in the shower, getting her clothes ready and going to sleep.

_**Five hours later…**_

Sharpay was asleep, off into dreamland, enjoying her sleep, until her cell phone started ringing.

_G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S yeah, G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S.  
__We flyin' first class, up in the sky.  
__Poppin' champagne, livin' my-…_

Sharpay suddenly sat up, looking around.

"Huh?" She said, looking for the light. She switched her side-table lamp on and looked around for her cell. She picked it up off of the floor and looked at it…

"How am I supposed to know how to answer this thing?" She randomly pressed some buttons on the front of her sidekick, hoping that would work. Thankfully, it did.

"Hello, hello, Sharpay?" Gabriella's voice could be heard on the other end. Sharpay put the phone to her ear and listened to Gabriella's voice.

"I'm here Gabriella."

"Oh, hey." Gabriella laughed, "I thought you'd like, picked up by an accident." Sharpay laughed too. "So you're still up for tomorrow?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good, that's great. Okay, shall we come pick you up, I mean… you can't exactly drive."

"Yeah, yeah. That's awesome, thanks."

"Okay, see yah tomorrow, bye!"

"Bye!" Sharpay put the phone down and smiled, she really needed to get some sleep. She wanted to look perfect in the morning; she wanted to act like a normal eleven year old, not a five year old anymore. She was going to grow up.

--

Her alarm clock went off; she reached over and switched it off. Getting out of bed, and skipping to the bathroom. She used the toilet, brushed her teeth, washed her face and brushed her hair. After she'd done all that she needed to put her clothes on. She'd chosen her clothes last night; surprisingly they matched and looked alright. She added accessories, like her bag and a hair band, she was ready to go.

She looked in the mirror at herself; she'd done a pretty good job. She was wearing jeans, which she'd rummaged around and found in the back of her closet, and a really cute halter neck top. She slipped her feet into her ballerina shoes and off she went downstairs. She grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl, set it on the table and opened the fridge.

"Something to drink, something to-… ah hah." She took the milk out of the fridge and poured a small amount into a glass. She carefully took them both over to the dining table and enjoyed her breakfast.

Ryan came downstairs, he was in his boxers and nothing else. He looked over to Sharpay and his mouth dropped.

"How-How… How are you ready?" Sharpay turned to him and giggled.

"I'm eleven, I can dress myself." She looked down to his bottom half.

"Ew, Ryan's only wearing underwear." Ryan laughed and shook his head.

"What time is it?"

"Uh… eleven, Gaby and Tay should be here in a sec. I'm gonna go wait for them, see yah Ry." She kissed his cheek and skipped off. Ryan was in shock, she'd weirdly changed. Overnight.

Sharpay saw Gabriella and Taylor come to her front door, so before they could knock she quickly opened the door and stepped outside.

"Hey guys." They both smiled to her.

"Let's go shopping Girlies!" Gabriella said, and they ran off to the car.

An half an hour later, the girls were just arriving at the mall. Sharpay was really excited, she really wanted to go to the mall with friends, she thought it sounded cool. Yeah, she'd been with her friends before I mean she was **eleven**, but she hadn't been with Gabriella and Taylor. They were going to have so much fun!

"Where do you wanna go first?" Taylor asked Sharpay.

"Um," Sharpay stood thinking. "Uh…"

"…"

Sharpay didn't know where she wanted to go first, she wanted to ask them where they wanted to go to, but they asked her. Gabriella looked at her and exhaled, loudly.

"I don't know," Gabriella nodded and turned to Taylor.

"So?" Taylor pointed to a shoe shop, they both nodded but Sharpay just stood there. They turned around and looked at her, "You coming or not, Shar?"

"You're doing it all so wrong, you don't start with shoes, you start with the actual outfit, and then you buy the accessories." Gabriella and Taylor stood in awe, did she remember? "Uh, my Mom told me?" The girls nodded and walked back over to Sharpay, their new friend.

"So, where first then?"

"Here," Sharpay simply said, and led them into a clothes shop.

Sharpay giggled to herself and smiled at the girls, "I love it!"

Gabriella and Taylor had picked out a new outfit for Sharpay, which she loved. Sharpay took the clothes and ran to the dressing room, popping her head out of the door.

"Oh, just checking you both were there." She continued getting changed into her new founded clothes, and stepped out of the cubicle.

The two girls were in awe, she looked really beautiful, naturally beautiful. Sharpay was wearing a tight fitted, long, light red top, which showed her slender physique, topped with a silver belt which lay adequately around her waist and short denim shorts, which were turned up at the bottom, for a better style. Then, she slipped on her silver stilettos, stumbling a little but she managed. She looked very stylish, and she wasn't too over done, like the usual Sharpay was, all of the time. She looked really pretty, and natural.

Sharpay looked at them, tucking a piece of dangling hair behind her ear.

"Does it look okay?"

"Okay? No." Gabriella said as Sharpay's smile faded away.

"You look better than okay, girl." Taylor laughed and bumped Sharpay's hip, causing Sharpay to fall. It was a total 'You've Been Framed' moment. Her legs flew up into the air and her hair went flying all over the place, she was on the floor, in a total mess. The girls couldn't help but laugh, but Sharpay, being eleven years old, took it the wrong way and ran out of the dressing rooms.

The girls ran after her, they couldn't loose an eleven year old, which would be horrible. And also, Ryan would probably kill them, and they weren't up for 'Ryan's Rage' at this very moment.

…Ten minutes later, they had found her. She was sitting on a bench outside of an ice cream parlour, her head was buried into her hands and you could hear slight sniffling coming from the very upset girl.

They walked up to her, sitting next to her. Gabriella wrapped an arm around of her, pulling her closer. Sharpay lay onto Gabriella's shoulder, burying her face into Gabriella's sweater.

"We're sorry," Gabriella whispered to Sharpay. "It was just… a joke." Taylor nodded, and rubbed Sharpay's left arm, comfortingly. Sharpay nodded into Gabriella and lifted her head up.

"It's okay," she said, wiping her eyes. "It's fine."

"We'll never do it again," Taylor smiled. "Promise." Sharpay nodded again.

"I'm stupid."

"What? No!" Taylor argued.

"I am, I'm too sensitive. I hate myself." Gabriella shook her head.

"Nuh uh, you're amazing. Sharpay I've only known you for like, a week in your time. And I've got to know you so much better, I now know what you were like when you were younger…"

"…I thought you said I was the same then as I am now?"

"…yeah, I was just getting onto that part. I was about to say: you're the same, but I love that about you. You're so sweet and…"

"OKAY, you guys that is so cheesy." The girls all giggled, nodding to themselves.

"Yeah, we're not getting married Gaby…" Gabriella laughed.

"Oh but we are."

"Not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

This row went on for a while until Taylor got very bored, and went into the ice cream parlour and got them all ice cream milkshakes, the row stopped as they ate them, but continued when they'd finished them. But finally after about a half an hour later, they stopped completely. Sharpay had won, Gabriella couldn't be bothered anymore and they were really tired. Gabriella looked at Sharpay. She still had the clothes that they hadn't bought!

"OHMYGOD. YOU STILL HAVE THE STORES CLOTHES ON."

"Woops…"

They went back to the store; thankfully the shop assistants didn't take any criminal offence on them, because the alarms didn't go off and they actually went back and paid for them. The three girls were relieved at this news, but they were still really tired.

They came out of the shop.  
"Wow, I'm tired." Taylor yawned, covering her mouth as she did so.

"Me too," Gabriella yawned too.

"Me three," Sharpay didn't yawn.

"Oh man, you didn't yawn." Sharpay laughed.

"Le duh, I didn't want to." Gabriella and Taylor laughed. "Can we go home?"

The two girls nodded, and they left the mall. They all linked in with each other, they were **new** best friends.

--

Sharpay was happily skipping around downstairs, waiting for her new best friends to arrive. It was only two hours since they'd dropped her off after the mall, but they were coming back for a real girl's night. She was so excited about that. She really didn't know what they did at girl's nights. Sure, she knew what _she_ did, but there was a five year difference, so something had not to be the same. She couldn't wait to know about it all.

They probably talked a lot more about guys than she was used to. Sure, she and her friends talked about the sweet guys, and some of the cool celebrities, but none of them rarely had _any_ experience themselves. So it was all about dreams, and hopes. She didn't know whether or not she had had any serious boyfriends, and she knew that both Gabriella and Taylor had a boyfriend. It was very weird for her to think of that. She didn't quite understand it.

When the doorbell rang, she hurried into the hallway, and opened it, coming face to face with Gabriella and Taylor. They were both loaded with stuff, so she quickly took as much of it, as she could, to ease them. She stumbled backwards, because of the sudden weight, and almost fell in a pair of shoes.

"Whoa, easy there, girl!" Taylor laughed, and grabbed a hold of her arm. Since Sharpay had taken all her bags, she only had her sports one, which contained all her clothes.

"Sorry…" Sharpay mumbled, and shot them a stiff smile, "Let's go upstairs, we're staying in my room."

"Your room!?" Gabriella exclaimed, as she followed Sharpay up the stairs, "Wow, you never let anyone but Ryan into your room."

Sharpay stopped in her tracks, and turned around on the huge stairwell, "I don't?" she questioned, "Why not?"

Taylor swallowed, and shared a look with Gabriella, "You're a very private person, Sharpay. But it's alright, we'll love to see your room!"

Sharpay still looked a bit insecure, but they urged her on, so they eventually got up to her room. They were both in awe for a few seconds. They'd never seen so much pink, at one place, on the same time, in their entire lives. Gabriella had to open and close her eyes a few times, before they were used to the very bright colour.

Sharpay placed all their stuff on the bed, and stood before them, blushing a bit, "I know it's not much…" she whispered, not wanting to look them in the eye. Her socks were becoming very interesting.

"Are you kidding me?!" Taylor exclaimed, "It's a lot! I think maybe my entire house could fit in here."

"It sure has a lot of pink…" Gabriella whispered, but smiled just the same.

Sharpay let out a sigh of relief, happy about their casual tones. She had been very nervous about this, but now she was more at ease. She sat down on the bed, and smiled at her guests. She opened her arms with a giggle, "Sit down, people!"

"Oh!" Taylor giggled as well, and she and Gabriella jumped onto the very soft bed, laying down, on each a side of Sharpay, who also lay down. They stared up at the ceiling of her bed, breathing softly.

"…I have a confession, girls." Sharpay whispered, staring first at Taylor, and then at Gabriella, before looking up again, "I don't know what you do at these kinda things. What do you do?"

"Well…" Gabriella trailed off, and grabbed Sharpay's hand, "We talk about our boyfriends, crushes. We do each others hair, paint our toenails. We watch sappy movies, and have pillow fights. We just goof off."

"Cool!" Sharpay smiled, very relieved, "That's pretty much what I'm used to. Except you guys are probably a bit more experienced with everything. Why don't we talk about guys?"

"Sure…" Taylor said, and turned onto her stomach, to lie better, "You'll never guess what Chad brought me the other day for our anniversary!"

Sharpay gasped, while Gabriella casually asked; "What? Tell us, Tay!"

"He gave me the most gorgeous necklace I have _ever_ seen." Taylor replied, with a huge smile, "I'll wear it tomorrow at school. It's like, gold, and has a thin chain, and with a heart. It's even engraved too."

Sharpay's eyes were wide, and she held back her breath; "What does it say?" she whispered.

"It says, 'Taylor, I love you so much, Love Chad'."

"Awwww…" Gabriella and Sharpay chorused, as Taylor revealed the sweet gesture.

"I want a boyfriend too…" Sharpay mumbled, "He has to be just as sweet as Chad."

"Chad's not all good, y'know?" Taylor said, with wide eyes, "He can be a jerk sometimes, he treats me like I'm some woman he can do with what he wants. I doubt he even thought of the necklace himself. It was probably his mother; she loves me."

"But still!" Sharpay argued, with a dreamy look on her face, "It'd be so great to have a boyfriend. I've never had one before, you know. I've only kissed one boy…" she blushed, and hid her face in her hands.

Gabriella couldn't help but smile, "Troy, right?" she questioned, pushing Sharpay's hands away, so they could see her.

"Yeah…" she said, getting even redder in the face, "He kissed me once. Just at this Halloween… Well, it wasn't this Halloween, but the last thing I remember is that kiss. Of course he's dating you now, Gabriella, but it's very weird for me."

"You have a crush on him, right?" Gabriella whispered, softly stroking Sharpay on the arm, "It's alright if you do. I understand. Last thing you rememeber, you guys had something going on."

Sharpay turned her face to the side, and looked her in the eyes, "Thank you for understanding. You're a good friend. And it's not like I'd ever do something with him, I mean, _duh_; think about the age difference!"

Taylor and Gabriella chuckled.

"And he's not even the same Troy anymore…" Sharpay whispered. She turned onto her stomach, to get more comfortable, like Taylor had. She was feeling something weird in the pit of her stomach, and she didn't know what it was. It was a feeling she had never felt before.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked, very concerned. She had noticed Sharpay shift uncomfortably a couple of times, but she wasn't quite sure what it meant, or if the blonde was just nervous.

"I have a weird feeling in my stomach…" Sharpay complained. At times like these, she felt so stupid. She was younger than them, so she should be allowed to ask about things that concerned her. But still; they were supposed to be the same age, so wouldn't they think she was stupid?

"Maybe you need the loo?" Gabriella bluntly suggested.

Sharpay giggled lightly, and sat up in bed, "Maybe…" she jumped off of it, and went for the bathroom door, "…you never know." she finished, before she closed the door behind her.

Gabriella and Taylor burst into laughter when she was out of sight.

"Oh my God, she's so cute!" Gabriella smiled, sitting up on the bed, "I mean… It's kinda spooky she acts like that, with her being sixteen, but she's very cute."

"I know," Taylor replied, "Like the little sister I never had. Except she looks hotter than me."

"Aw, Tay, you have a hot booty-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Gabriella an Taylor immediately jumped off the bed, and hurried towards the bathroom door. Sharpay's shriek had been horrifying, and their skin rose goosebumps. What had happened?

Taylor knocked on the door repeatedly, "Sharpay? Are you alright?"

"What happened?" Gabriella chipped in, swallowing a huge lump in her throat.

The door was unlocked, and Sharpay's head came through the small slit, "…I'm bleeding," she sniffed, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm bleeding. I dunno what's happening."

"Are you bleeding on your stomach?" Gabriella asked, for one time in her life, not getting her facts down right.

"From my…" Sharpay sniffed, and searched for the right words. Then she closed the door, and leaned against it. They could hear the thud from her back, hitting it.

"From where?" Gabriella asked, while Taylor seemed to put things together in her head…

"From my … _personal _area." Sharpay continued, and tears were now evident in her voice. They could hear her sniffs through the door.

Taylor nudged Gabriella in the side, "Her period." She explained, "She's probably never had it before. Of course she's freaked out. Maybe they haven't even had about it in school."

Gabriella's face fell, as realization dawned on her, "Oh…" she whispered, but then furrowed her brow, "What are we gonna do, Tay?"

Taylor nodded towards the door, where they could still hear Sharpay sob, "…I'm saying, we help her."

Gabriella swallowed hard, and held out her closed fist, "Rock, Paper, Scissors?"

Taylor nodded, and held out her hand as well, "On three…"

"One."

"Two…"

"Three…"

They looked down at their fists, and Gabriella immediately lost face. She had paper, but Taylor had scissors.

"Darn…" she said, and let out a sigh, "I'll be right back." Then she knocked on the door, and the sobs constrained, "Sharpay? Let me come in and help you?"

"Help me?" they heard her whimper.

"Yeah, open the door, sweetie." Gabriella replied, in her best mother-voice. She figured this was a little hard on Sharpay, and probably embarrassing, "I'm gonna help you, so you can take care of this yourself from now on."

"Okay…" she said, before the door was opened, to let Gabriella in, "I'm really sorry…"

"It's alright," Gabriella replied, completely ignoring the blood, and what else, "I'm here to help you, Sharpay…"

--

As Sharpay stopped by Gabriella's locker on Monday, it was only the two of them, and Taylor. Gabriella immediately wrapped her arms around her, and hugged her tight.

Taylor padded Sharpay's flat stomach, "Are you okay in there?"

"It's weird…" Sharpay mumbled, moving her hands to her stomach as well, "I feel different…"

"You're a woman now." Gabriella replied, but stopped to think, when she realized what she was saying, "Well, technically, you've already passed that state, but since you don't remember… You officially became a woman last Saturday."

Sharpay giggled, because she didn't know what else to do. She still wasn't really comfortable talking about this stuff. She overheard two girls from her class talking openly about sex just last Friday, and she'd never do that. She convinced herself though, that it had something to do with the age. Maybe she had been just like that when she was acting her age? Before the accident, before her life got ruined?

"Anyway," Taylor replied, and grabbed her books tighter, "Let's get to homeroom. We better not be late."

"I know, Mrs. Darbus can be so tough." Sharpay smiled, as they hurried along the hallway.

"Aw, listen to you!" Gabriella cheered, with a huge smile, "You're already catching up on things!"

Sharpay paused to think for a second, but a wide grin appeared on her face, when she realized it was true, "I am!" she said, "I really am! That's so great!"

"We're proud of you, sweetie." Taylor told her, as they went into the classroom.

"Hey girls!" Troy said, and waved them to his seat.

Sharpay dropped her books off at her seat, before going down there, "Hi Troy…" she smiled, and couldn't help but blush.

Gabriella and Taylor shared a look, and fought not to laugh.

"How are you holding up?" Chad asked her, and padded her on the back, as she jumped onto his desk.

"I'm alright, thank you." Sharpay smiled, and brushed a hand through his curly hair – she was still so fascinated with it.

Just then Mrs. Darbus entered the classroom, and the girls hurried to their seats. Chad turned to Troy, a huge smile of his face, "She's so sweet!" he whispered.

"I know…!" Troy replied, and eyed her for a few seconds, "She's sweet and hot… That's a Sharpay I can get onboard with."

"And she doesn't act like such a child anymore." Chad said, with a shrug, "Maybe she finally gave up on the victim-role."

"Yeah, she's so awesome now." Troy said, and watched as she swung her hair back over her shoulder, and leaned back in her chair, "She's like the Sharpay I remember. The Sharpay I had such a crush on."

"How come you never went out with her?" Chad wanted to know, since it was a subject he'd been wondering a lot about, since the truth about their kiss was revealed.

"She changed." Troy quickly replied, and finally tore his gaze away from her, when Mrs. Darbus wanted them to write something down.

He couldn't quite explain it, and he didn't know what was happening, but he felt different. He felt his eyes linger on Sharpay quite a lot this morning. The clothes she was wearing was awesome. She wasn't glittery and sparkly like they knew her, she was normal to look at… and normal _suited_ her. She was wearing jeans and an ordinary tank top. And her hair was just down today. She hadn't straightened it as much as she normally did, and the curls looked great on her. She wasn't wearing any make-up – but it was okay. He was sure it'd come. She wasn't wearing high heels (she still didn't know how to walk in them, Gabriella had told him), but the ballerina shoes she had on, really suited her. It made her even smaller than she was.

He groaned to himself, when he realized what he was doing. He was studying her. He was getting lost in every curl of her hair… Wasn't that wrong? He had a girlfriend! And the girl was eleven for Christ's sake… but with the body of a 16-year-old! And she was getting closer and closer at acting that way again, she was… _almost there_.

And if she never really remembered what happened during summer and during the Winter Musical, she'd believe their story forever. She'd keep being nice forever. How great wouldn't that be…

_It still doesn't give you reason to think of her like that, _he told himself, as he vaguely followed Mrs. Darbus' orders, _she's only eleven. She's just a kid… And you have Gabriella. You love Gabriella. Sharpay's nothing. She's only eleven. You're at completely different stages. Forget her, Troy! _

He snapped out of his daydream when the bell rang. He quickly packed his stuff, and rushed out of the classroom. He really needed to think things over, but he didn't know what to decide… He'd been feeling weird already last week, but after seeing her today, it was driving him crazy…

What should he do?

He couldn't like an 11-year-old, could he? He wasn't supposed to. He shouldn't.

_And yet, _he told himself, with a huge sigh, as she plumped his things onto his desk in French class, _…you do…

* * *

_

_So yeah. Sorry for the loooong wait, once again. We hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sharpay is growing up a bit, and we hope you'll be able to follow her progress through it all. We hope to update a few times during Christmas – if we're quick, lolz._

_Anyway, thanks for all the great reviews. You guys really rock. They make our day. _

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own High School Musical. _

_- Stessa and Bethany.  
_


	5. Chapter Five

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Five**

**Falling Into Realization**

Sharpay arrived at school. She was in her new clothes, which she had bought on the shopping trip. She was a little worried about wearing them, because it was totally new stuff. But Gabriella and Taylor reassured her, when she arrived at East High.

"Oh. My-"

"GOSH!" Gabriella was interrupted by Taylor, who started giggling. "You. Look. HOT."

"I do? I'm not that hot, I mean, its cold outside." Sharpay said, not getting her point. Taylor laughed, shaking her head.

"N_oooo_, I mean hot as in... pretty."

"Oh, right! I get'cha, mmhmm… I knew that."

"Sure you did girl," Taylor said, sarcastically. Sharpay faked a laugh, and looked rather uncomfortable in front of the two friends.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Gabriella asked, putting a warm, caring hand on her shoulder.

"I'm just getting used to … y'know …" She lowered her voice down to a whisper, "girly problems." The two girls exchanged glances and nodded.

"Yeah, it's pretty awkward when you first get used to it,"

"Yeah, I was really scared, but my Mom reassured me that everything was okay. Every woman goes through it." Gabriella explained. Sharpay smiled.

"I really don't know what I'd do without you two, you're my best friends!" Sharpay walked off, slowly, waiting for the two to catch up to her.

"I never thought that I would ever hear that from thee Sharpay Evans." Taylor said, quietly. Gabriella shrugged.

"We just did."

The bell rang, and everyone went to their first lesson. For Sharpay it was History, she really hated History, both Sharpay's. She didn't understand the point of learning about the past, when it was the present. There really was no point, same with Math. Who wants to learn algebra, when you don't use it in life?! Anyways, back to the lesson …

Sharpay was flicking her pencil between her two fingers, getting totally bored and zoning out when the teacher asked her a question. She quickly sat up, looking at him.

"Huh?" The whole class turned to look at her. She cleared her throat, feeling a little claustrophobic.

"Why were the casualties so high on the Western Front?"

"…What's the Western Front?" Some of the jocks sniggered, causing everyone to laugh a little, except Gabriella, Taylor and surprisingly … Troy. Sharpay turned around to look at them, tears forming in her eyes. It wasn't her fault she didn't know! She'd lost a quarter of her memory! Quickly Troy raised his hand and Mr. O'Donnell looked at him.

"It was because of the technology, the machine gun that killed most of the soldiers that entered the war." Mr. O'Donnell nodded, and turned to look at Sharpay.

"I think you should take account on what Troy has just said." Sharpay nodded and looked around to Troy, nervously smiling, but quickly turning back around, so she didn't get told off. She didn't like Mr. O'Donnell, he scared her. She dropped her head, still not paying attention, and doodled little hearts all over her notebook.

"Mrs. Troy Bolton." She whispered to herself, as she smiled and wrote his name in a heart.

Finally the History lesson was over, and Sharpay was able to get out of Mr. O'Donnell's sight. She didn't really get on with him, and she had an idea that Mr. O'Donnell didn't like her either. It was weird, maybe something in the past that she didn't know about? Maybe, she'd just have to ask Gabriella.

"Taylor, where am I now?" Taylor thought for a moment and then looked at her.

"I think you're in drama, with Ms. Darbus."

"Is that my favourite teacher?" Taylor nodded and said goodbye, walking off to find her next lesson.

"Uh…" Sharpay looked around, where was she supposed to go? She didn't know where the drama room was. "Wait, homeroom." She smiled at herself and made her way to homeroom.

She walked into the classroom, and looked around. All eyes were on her; she shrugged and skipped over to her seat. She looked up at Ms. Darbus, smiling at her. Ms. Darbus returned the favour and started babbling on about some drama exercise. Sharpay listened intently to what she was saying.

"…Okay, so you're all going to get into partners. Whoever you want, now choose." Sharpay looked around the classroom as many of the students chose their friends. Sharpay didn't really know any of these people, she just focused, there must be someone she knew. She gazed over the crowd of teenagers, looking for anyone to be with. Just then, she caught a glimpse of brown shaggy hair, and dazzling blue pools. They locked eyes, but Sharpay turned away quickly, before anything happened. She didn't like the idea of asking him, it scared her.

"Sharpay?" He tapped her on the shoulder. Her heart stopped. As she turned around to look at him, it thumped in her chest like an insane drummer banging away at his drums.

"Y-Yes?"

"You wanna be my partner?" Sharpay just nodded and stood up, looking down at her shoes. "You look pretty today." She looked up into his deep blue eyes, and smiled.

"I do?"

"Yeah, you look really nice."

"Thanks." She blushed a light shade of fuchsia.

"Okay, move all the tables to the back of the room; make as much space as you can!"

The pupils did as they were told. Many of them feared Ms. Darbus, they were scared stiff of her. But she wasn't harsh or anything, she just didn't like people who weren't her stars. Sharpay helped everyone move the tables, and stood in the middle of the room, looking at Ms. Darbus, Troy standing at her side.

"Okay, you're going to improvise. You're both either best friends, or boyfriend and girlfriend, if you're in a pair with the opposite sex…" She nodded her head towards Troy and Sharpay. "And the drama is that one of you is moving away to another state. And the other person is unhappy about that, and wants them to stay." She lifted her hands up in the air, "off you go!"

Sharpay looked at Troy, and he looked back. There was complete and utter silence between the two before Sharpay decided to break it.

"So… shall I be the person who leaves?" She twiddled her thumbs.

"I suppose so." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Sharpay, can I ask you something?"

"Mm?"

"Do you remember anything from … well, before?" She shook her head.

"Nothing really, I don't even remember small things." Troy nodded, feeling sorry for the blonde girl who was standing in front of him.  
"Okay, let's get on with this." She nodded, as she started the improvisation, acting as a 16 year old.

Sharpay took his hand, looking into his eyes.

"I have to leave," she whispered, as tears formed in her deep brown pools. Troy shook his head.

"You don't have to, you could stay here. With me." It was now Sharpay's turn to disagree.

"No, I can't. You know I can't."

"Why? Why can't you?! I don't see how your Dad can make you do this to yourself!"

"He's always wanted me to marry Matt, I don't know why, but he just does."

"Sharpay, don't leave me here! I'm nothing without you!" Sharpay shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

"No, no, you don't need me. You are something, you're Troy Bolton. You need to find someone else; I'm not the one for you." He leaned in, getting ready to kiss her. He was getting too caught up in the moment, he can't kiss her, she's only 11! Quickly Sharpay stepped back, out of his reach and let go of his hand.

"No, I have to go. You'll be fine without me. I love you." Sharpay walked away and Troy whispered a simple;

"Goodbye."

Ms. Darbus started clapping, and stood up from her chair, walking over to Troy and Sharpay.

"Bravo! That was great!" She smiled, fixing her gigantic glasses. "You two should audition for the musical this season; you both would be perfect for the roles. And of course I know that Sharpay will do it." She turned to Troy. "Mr. Bolton?"

"Hmm?" He looked up at her.

"You will join Sharpay in the lead roles for the next musicale, am I right?" Troy nodded, quickly, making sure he didn't upset Ms. Darbus. That would be a kafuffle.

Sharpay turned to him, a small smile across her lips, "Are we really auditioning for the next musicale?" she asked him, eyes bright and shiny.

Troy shrugged, and offered her a smile, trying not to feel weird about what had just happened between them – the almost kiss, "I guess so," he told her, "it's gonna be fun, right?"

Sharpay nodded a bit, and turned around to help the others put the tables back, since they were going to go over some other stuff, where they needed to write. Troy came to help her lift a table, being the 'strong' guy he was.

"So?" Sharpay questioned him, as they fidgeted with a table, making their way through the mass of pupils, "How do you think I'm doing? With this whole thing? I'm really nervous about not fitting in." she quickly babbled. She was really nervous, and she needed someone to reassure her that it was going alright.

Troy winked at her, "You're doing good," he said, as they got the table down, and relaxed for a second, "very good. You're acting very much like a sixteen year old. It's nice to see you're handling yourself this well."

He babbled too, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to tell her what an amazing job he thought she was doing, but that would be stupid, since he didn't want to let it slip that he was sorta attracted to her. It was kinda creepy, and he didn't want to freak her out.

She shot him a huge smile, and started walking pass him to find the chair that belonged to the table they had just moved, and Troy moved too, to get to his own desk. However, in the mass of students, and all the moving around that was happening, he slipped on something on the floor, and his feet flew away beneath him. He could feel his back moving backwards, and was afraid of the smack he knew was coming.

It didn't come however, so when he opened his eyes, after having squeezed them together like a true coward, he was looking straight up into Sharpay's brown eyes. She was smiling softly at him, as she helped him stand up onto his feet, them both ignoring the looks they were getting.

"Whoops." Troy mumbled, and embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. He had no idea what to say though, so he just added, "That was embarrassing."

"Aw, you're fine, Troysie." Sharpay replied, and waved it off with a flick of her hand, "I'm always embarrassing myself. You just fell." She reassured him, before tip-toeing up; placing a light kiss on his cheek, before skipping off.

Troy's finger lingered on the spot for a second, as it struck him. He had fallen for her. Literally.

--

After lunch Sharpay had a class with Chad. He had saved her a seat next to him (as much as it pained him), so she was rather reassured in that class too. It was also just Spanish class, but since she had NO IDEA how to say anything in Spanish, she feared it was gonna be rather horrible.

She'd had to sit through a few Spanish movies with her mom about art and literature when she was younger, because her mom demanded her to do so, but she hadn't been able to understand them, she'd just read the subtitles. Now she really wished she'd tried harder to just listen or something.

She turned her head to the side, and poked Chad on the arm. When he turned around to look at her, she shot him a cute smile, "So, Chad?" she asked, "Am I good in this class? At Spanish?"

Chad shrugged, "Yeah, you're alright, I guess."

Sharpay clapped her hands together in delight, "Yay!"

"But-" Chad butted in, and quickly stopped her clapping, "-you never get along with Mr. Larsson. No matter what you do, he finds a way to criticize you, even if it's correct, so you might want to keep low profile."

Sharpay leaned back in her chair, now with a damper on her before so happy mood. _Another _teacher she didn't get along with? First that Mr. O'Donnell guy, and now this other Mr. Larsson guy. Was she only the teacher's pet in Ms. Darbus' class? Well, apparently she was.

Just then the teacher arrived, and every student found their seat. Sharpay immediately sat up straight, to look ready, because she didn't want unnecessary attention. She was gonna make sure that this Mr. Larsson loved her now, because it still was about her grades, and she'd have troubles getting good ones since she remembered zilch.

Mr. Larsson took attendance, and his eyes lingered on Sharpay for just a couple of seconds longer than on anyone else, while she crumpled in her seat. She didn't like his hard glare. He looked like a really mean guy. She was never gonna get through this period.

A good while into the class, and Sharpay was ready to cry. He was _such_ a mean man. He shot hard glares, and he hammered his ruler to the desk about every fifth second; Sharpay really didn't like that sound. He asked tough questions, and even though she wasn't the only one who didn't know the answers, she was the only one who got a mark each time she replied with an 'I'm sorry, I don't know'.

She hated this man.

Sharpay sniffed, and tried to dry her cheeks off with her sleeve, as she ignored the looks her classmates were giving her. Chad was to no help, really. He wasn't even supporting her, or whispering the answers to her, like Taylor, Gabriella and Troy would have done. Ryan would even have done it, but he didn't take Spanish, so he wouldn't have known what to whisper.

She softly closed her books, and decided she had to go to the restroom. She had to make sure her appearance was alright, and she kinda also needed to pee. She'd been trying to hold it in, since she didn't want that attention by leaving class, but she just couldn't.

She pushed her chair back, and was half-way through the classroom, when she paused, because she felt all eyes on her. She turned around and looked at them all, before staring at Mr. Larsson. He looked _very_ angry.

"Where are you going?" he asked her, hands on hips.

Sharpay gulped, "I- I have to use the bathroom."

He arched a bushy eyebrow, "Then you need to have a lavatory pass." He told her, and she could see how much he enjoyed seeing her in this position.

She could also hear how the class started whispering about her, while they were laughing and giggling. She felt the tears in her eyes again.

"The-then…" she stuttered, looking up at him, with pleading eyes, not caring if he saw her tears, "-ca-can I have an uhm… a lava-lavatory pa-pass?"

He shot her a smile, and she almost believed she had charmed her way into his heart, when it turned to a frown, and his eyes got hard, "No!" he said, voice firm, "Sit down."

Sharpay felt the tears well up completely in her eyes, as they spilled over, and rolled down her cheeks. She didn't bother trying to push them away, and she didn't bother covering up her sobs. She quickly hurried to her seat, grabbed her things, and ran out of the classroom, wailing not so quietly.

She could hear laughter in the class, but ignored it, as she hurried to her locker, and stuffed her books into it, before hurrying out of the school; just wanting to go home. If this was the way it was gonna be, if this was high school, then she really didn't want to get back to normal.

She didn't want to live a life like this.

--

Sharpay had skipped school for the rest of that week, much to the displeasure of her parents and her friends, who desperately tried to get her to go. They wanted her there, because she had to start remembering.

But Sharpay hadn't wanted to, because she feared another encounter like what happened in Spanish class. She couldn't take the thought of it, so she decided to play it safe and stay home. It was much more fun anyway, because she could watch cartoons and play with her Barbie, even if she felt guilty about not going to school.

It was Saturday, and Ryan had left home to go to the movies with Troy, Kelsi and Gabriella. He'd asked Sharpay to tag along, but she'd insisted that you don't go see a movie if you hadn't gone to school all week. So he'd let her be, and left. Her parents were downstairs. She had wondered this last week, why they didn't do anything as a family anymore. They'd done plenty of stuff, like she remembered, but it seemed like a lot of stuff had changed these last five years. They didn't even eat dinner together anymore, and she found it pretty hard to readjust to that.

She had her TV on, and was watching Power Puff Girls, while dressing up Barbie. She combed her fingers through the long blonde hair on the Barbie, before giving her the final touch – her red high heeled shoes. Then she held her up before herself and gave the Barbie her approval with a nod.

She smiled at it, and then placed it on her floor, making it walk around on the long thin legs, while she kept an eye on the TV.

"_Hi_," she said, her voice a high, screechy one, "_My name's Barbie. What's your name?_" she questioned, as the Barbie, before changing her voice back to normal, and answering as herself, "My name's Sharpay. I really like your dress." She continued, and then her voice changed again, "_I like your voice. I can hear you're a singer. Wanna sing for me?_"

Sharpay scrunched her nose up in thought, as she pondered over what to answer the Barbie, "Yeah," she finally settled on, "I can sing you something. I just have to figure out what. Two seconds."

Sharpay digged into her mind, as she tried to think of the perfect song to sing for Barbie. She had no idea what to choose. Suddenly a flash came before her eyes, and she saw herself (as she looked now), singing a weird song for an utterly horrified Troy.

"_Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Makihiki malahini-who…_"

Sharpay's eyes snapped open, as she rubbed her trembles, trying to figure out where that came from… Did she just – did she just have a flashback? Did she just _remember_ something!? She couldn't believe it. She'd never heard that song before, and here she was; thinking about it.

She opened her mouth, and was kinda not surprised, when the words just flew out of her mouth, like she'd been singing them a million times before (which she probably had):

"_Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Makihiki malahini-who, Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Ooh!, Hawana wakawakawakaniki pu pu pu…… Ryan, the fog?_"

She tightened her jaw, and watched her Barbie with amusement. That was just… that was just a plain weird song. Why would she be singing a song like that? For Troy, even? And why would Ryan be singing it with her? Apparently he had, because she mentioned his name. This was… weeeird.

She was about to pick up her cell phone and text Ryan to tell him she had actually remembered something, when she was interrupted by her mother, who was hollering from downstairs;

"SHARPAY!?" she screamed, "WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU, DEAR!"

She groaned to herself, and grabbed her Barbie tighter, before skipping out of her room, and down the gorgeous marvel staircase. It was huge, and she remembered being quite terrified to walk down it, when she was younger. Of course she wasn't scared anymore. She was a big girl now. She was **eleven**!

She followed her mother's voice through the house, until she came to living room number four. She could hear her mother's voice through all the rooms, which meant she was talking rather loud. It actually sounded like she was yelling, now when Sharpay came closer and closer. Sharpay wondered what all this was about. She hoped she hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe they wanted to punish her for not going to school these days?

"Well, I think it's time for her to know!" she heard her mother say, in a hissed tone, as she stopped outside the door, just out of sight, to listen in, "Ryan already knows."

"Auchanté," she heard her father reply, his voice clearly annoyed with her mother, "she has so much going on right now. With the car crash, and the memory loss. It's gonna be hard for her to know this too. I'm concerned about her."

"We can't keep stuff like this from her!" Auchanté argued, raising her voice with each word she said.

But that was when Sharpay decided to make her presence known. She stepped through the doorway, and her father, who faced that way, saw her immediately, and shot her a smile. He opened his arms widely, and she immediately strode pass her mother, to hug him back.

"Princess!" he cheered, as she buried her face into his chest, taking in the scent that was all him. She had always been a daddy's girl, and she'd never trade that for anything. Ryan was a mommy's boy – it was funny like that. Sharpay loved her father more than anything in the entire world, and Vance Evans spoiled his daughter like you wouldn't believe. It was crazy.

"Daddy!" she mumbled, as she pulled back, Barbie still tugged safely in her hand, "What's all this about?" she questioned, using her best pouty look. She knew it always worked on him.

Vance gave his wife a look over Sharpay's shoulder, but she just gave him a hard glare, and mouthed for him that it had to be done. His heart sunk; he really didn't want to hurt his princess. She was so important to him.

"Princess," he began, and gently took her hand, leading her to the couch, "we really need to tell you something. It's very important."

Sharpay nodded, and looked at her father, as he sat down next to her. She could tell he was being very serious; his face was all weird, and his eyes didn't have their usual spark. She wondered when that had stopped? It must have happened in the five years she had forgotten, because this was not the man she remembered. This was not Vance Evans; her beloved father. This was another man.

"What is it, daddy?" she asked, clutching Barbie tight – she always did that when she was scared or afraid. It helped her stay calmer, "Please daddy, tell me what it is." She begged, "Is it bad?"

"We really don't want to hurt you, pumpkin." Auchanté butted in, sitting down on Sharpay's other side, grabbing her free hand, "We already told Duckie, but your father didn't want to tell you because of the accident, and everything, but I think you need to know."

Sharpay's breath hitched in her throat, as she felt it coming.

"We're getting a divorce."

She swore; her whole world stopped. The moment froze, and her heart stopped beating for just a minute. She could feel their eyes on her, and her mother's hand in her own. She could see her father's sorry face, and his eyes; begging her for forgiveness.

"Princess…" he whispered, reaching a hand out to stroke her cheek, "Princess, say something…"

She ripped her hand out of her mother's firm grip, and stood up, turning to face her parents. She tried to breathe normally, but she couldn't. Her breath got cut in her throat, and she closed her eyes, to calm down.

They were getting a divorce… her parents were getting a divorce… they were gonna move. _Were_ they gonna move? _Who_ was she gonna live with? Would she and Ryan be able to be together, or would they have to split? Why … _This_ only happened to other people! Not to her! Her family was perfect, this _wasn't_ supposed to happen!

She blinked rapidly and took a step back, away from her parents, watching them with huge brown eyes. Ryan already knew this. He'd known for awhile, but they hadn't told her yet, not after the accident… How long had things been bad?

She wished she could remember…

"Pumpkin?" her mother questioned, eyes wide, "Sit down, please… We need to discuss this. Don't freak out on us," she added, "honey?"

Sharpay swallowed hard, and took another step back, eyes wide. She stared at them both for about a minute or two, before she turned around on her heel, and hurried out of the room, tears stinging in her eyes. She could hear her father yelling after her to stop, and to calm down, but she just couldn't. She couldn't be in a room with them right now… she couldn't be in this house.

She ran through the house, and when she reached the hall, she didn't run up the staircase, but outside, through the front door – tears now streaming down her cheeks. Barbie was not calming her down right now, but she was there to offer her support in her own way.

Sharpay ran down the sidewalk, and didn't stop until she was as far away from the house, as her breath would allow her. She couldn't see it anymore, and she sat down on a bench, and cried into her hands for a little while. She needed to get it all out; no matter how stupid she looked.

When she felt like she was cried out, she sniffed a bit, and dried her cheeks off with the back of her hand. She checked her wrist watch, and saw that it was just a little over noon. Where could she go? She didn't want to go home just yet… Who could she turn to? Ryan wasn't home to be there for her, and Gabriella was with him… Same went for Troy.

The only person Sharpay could really think of was Taylor. She knew she'd be there to comfort her, because the other girl always had been there for everyone who needed her.

Sharpay stood up, and looked around. She hoped Taylor lived where she used to, because otherwise she would be going in the wrong direction. She went out on a limp, though, and hurried down the pavement; almost running as she went. She wanted to get to Taylor that bad, because she needed to tell this to someone. She basically just needed someone to hug her pain away.

Taylor's house wasn't that far away. She ran through the park and on the other side of that, it was two blocks down. She was quickly there, and checked the mailbox for the names, and was happy to learn that it still said _The McKessies_. She then walked up the yard, her heartbeat calming down. When she reached the front door, she knocked three times, and waited for someone to open.

It didn't take too long, and she was very happy, when it was Taylor she saw standing there. Taylor had just opened her mouth, and was about to greet her friend, when Sharpay flung herself onto her, burying her head into her neck, and crying loudly. Taylor, stunned, wrapped her arms around the blonde girl, and closed the door with her foot, while padding Sharpay on the back.

"Shhhh," Taylor whispered, still padding her back. She didn't even know what had happened, but Sharpay seemed really freaked out, so she just comforted her, because it seemed like she needed it, "Shh, calm down, Sharpay… Honey, let's go into the living room, okay?"

Sharpay sniffed, and tucked her hand into Taylor's, following the black beauty into the living room. Taylor helped her to the couch, and she looked around the room, surprised to find Chad in the chair by the TV. She looked away from him, not wanting to let him see her cry. She had never wanted boys to see her cry.

"Sit here for a second, okay?" Taylor said, and pulled her hand away from Sharpay's – it was quite hard, actually -, "I'm gonna go make you some tea, okay? So you can calm down. It'll be a few minutes."

Sharpay nodded, while a hiccup came through her throat, and she hugged Barbie to her chest, like it was her lifeguard. Taylor backed away from her, and motioned for Chad to follow her through the short hallway, and to the kitchen. He quickly got up, and followed his girlfriend, admiring her from behind as they went.

Taylor closed the door to the kitchen, so their conversation would only be between the two of them. She then turned to Chad, eyes huge, "Oh my God!" she shrieked, "What are we gonna do!?"

"What the hell happened!?" Chad wanted to know, as he jumped onto the counter, "Was she crying her eyes out, or what?"

Taylor nodded, and turned to heat up some water, "Yeah, she really was," she agreed, with a nod, "but what happened? What made her cry like that? I know she's like … _eleven_ in her mind, but still…" she trailed off, as she tried to get her facts down right, "she shouldn't cry like that."

Chad shrugged, as he took a cup out from the cupboard next to his head, and handed it to Taylor, "I know, Tay…" he said, and shrugged his shoulders, "And yes, maybe she's crying her eyes out, but why are you doing this? It really isn't our problem, Taylor." He paused, and shook his head, "She would have never helped you, and I really don't want to waste my time with you on her. Let's just drive her back home, so Ryan can take care of her."

"Chad!" Taylor hissed, as she got some tea leaves out, and placed them in the pot, "We can't just ditch her like that! She's our friend, and she needs our help, alright? And I'm gonna help her." she paused, and took a step closer to him, standing in between his legs, as he sat on the counter, "Chad babe, I'm asking you this… We can't send her home crying like that. And knowing what's wrong might come in handy. It could be a minor problem, but it also could be something huge. Something we need to know to make our plan perfect…"

Chad seemed to think about it for a second, just as a high pitched sound announced that the water was done, and Taylor turned to fix the tea for their guest, "Alright," he agreed, with a slight smirk, "we'll listen to her, Taylor, but…" he paused, for dramatic effect, "you owe me _**big**_, baby."

Taylor turned back around, and placed a deep kiss on his lips, "Quite alright with me, Chad." She whispered, as she pulled away, "Juuuust alright with me."

* * *

_GUYS! We're so unbelievably sorry about this long delay. We really are. We're gonna have to try and update more often, we really promise; we are. _

_We hope you enjoyed this chapter, though. The bomb was blown to Sharpay, and we tried putting a little fun in at first, during her day at school. Please drop off a review, because they're so awesome, and we really need 'em to go on. _

_--_

_Okay you guys, this is Bethany (XxCharmedxX). Don't blame the late – wait, let me rephrase that, __**REALLY **__late update on Stessa, it's my entire fault, seriously. My computer was acting up and it has been really annoying me. So the chapter was the last thing on my mind, then I wrote most of the chapter and it deleted itself. So, I got even more annoyed with my laptop. So, Stessa wrote most of the chapter, so basically most of the credit goes to her. Because she's so amazingly fabulous. (: Thanks for reading guys, and y'know we love reviews? Hehe. x_

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own High School Musical – wish we did, though. _

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	6. Chapter Six

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Six**

**A Drive Through the Past**

"…So-So they're getting a divorce." She sniffled, still holding onto Taylor. She could see Chad out of the corner of her eye, not paying any attention at all.

"Aw, honey," Taylor hugged her even tighter, "it'll be okay, everything will work out… I think." Taylor was really trying to help, she wanted to see it from an eleven year olds side, but she couldn't really vision that. It was too hard for her; she couldn't remember when she was eleven.

"Wh-What if it's not gonna be o-okay?"

"It will, it will. Don't worry, just cry." She whispered to her, trying to calm her down. She wasn't used to this side of Sharpay. Sure, she'd gotten used to her new personality, but no, not this. Sharpay Evans crying, in Taylor McKessies living room? Ha, was this a dream?

Taylor looked towards her boyfriend, noticing that he wasn't taking any attention in this matter at all, he was blowing their cover! She shot a hard stare at him, and kicked the table, making him look up to the fuming woman. She shook her head at him, and he shot a 'why are you mad at me?' look. Taylor just ignored this bone-head look and turned her attention back to Sharpay.

_G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S yeah, G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S.  
We flyin' first class, up in the sky…_

Sharpay pulled her cell out of her pocket and looked at the caller I.D.

**Ryan Cell. **

Ryan Cell.

Ryan Cell. 

Flashed up on the screen, she scoffed and ignored it, not in the mood to talk to him right now. Taylor noticed this immediate reaction and picked up Sharpay's cell off of the table, and answered the call.

"Hello?" Taylor said, waiting for Ryan to answer.

"…Taylor?" He said, surprised at the girl who answered.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Where's Shar?"

"Here."

"Why didn't she answer?"

"Uh, because she didn't want to?"

"Oh, okay. So where are you both?"

"What is this, twenty questions or something?!"

"Chill, chill, I'm just worried about my eleven year old sister, okay?"

"Yeah, I think she's mad at you for not telling her."

"About what?"

"Y'know, the thing between your parents?"

"Oh yeah, Mom said she was gonna force Dad to tell her. Whoops."

"Yeah, you really should be 'whoops-ing'."

"Why?"

"Because she's at my house freaking crying her eyes out. This has really got to her, Ryan."

"Right, right. Okay, give me five minutes. I'll come and talk to her, or whatever." Taylor sighed.

"Fine, but hurry. Kay?"

"Byee."

Taylor put her cell back on the table, where it was before and looked at Sharpay.

"Ryan's coming to see you, and to take you home."

"Why?"

"Because he cares about you."

"No he doesn't, he didn't tell me about Mommy and Daddy!"

"Okay." Taylor said, trying not to listen to her anymore, she felt a headache coming on.

The doorbell rang, and Taylor stood up very quickly to go get it. Sharpay snuggled up on the sofa, and closed her eyes. Taylor mentioned that it was going to be Ryan to the young girl, who was now sprawled across the light green sofa, her blonde locks covering her face. She just shrugged, she didn't really care. Ryan hadn't told her anything, so she wasn't going to help him in any way, she was just being stubborn.

"Hey Ry, Sharpay's in here, she's like, sprawled over the sofa." Ryan nodded and walked inside, closing the front door behind him. He took off his shoes, being the polite boy he was, and followed Taylor into their living room. Ryan immediately saw Chad staring at Sharpay, rather weirdly.

"Uh, I think she needs help, man." Chad said, not really thinking, as normal.

"She's fine, she's just upset Chad. Gosh, you're so un-thoughtful!" Taylor stated, but Ryan just gave a nod to Chad telling him that it was okay, and he could handle this.

Ryan walked over to Sharpay, sitting on the only space on the sofa. Sharpay immediately jumped up, and gave him a hard stare.  
"What are you doing here? I don't like you anymore! You're-You're-You're mean!" Ryan let out a laugh and took her hand.

"Sharpay, I didn't tell you about Mom and Dad getting a divorce because they wanted to tell you themselves."

"Well, they shouldn't have told me! I don't want them to get a divorce! We're perfect, they can't, we're gonna be alone."

"No, we're still going to see them both Shar, but just not together. Okay?" Sharpay moved closer to Ryan and snuggled into him. Ryan wrapped his arms around of her, and kissed her softly on the forehead. "It's gonna be okay, everything is going to be okay…" He whispered into her ear, calmingly.

"I'm sorry Rysie," she quietly said, letting a few tears drop from her brown pools.

"It's okay Pay, it's fine…"

"I didn't mean to-.."

"I know, I know. It's fine, don't worry about it." Ryan hugged her tighter, wiping the tears away from her cheeks. He could tell that Sharpay was really hurt by this matter; he knew that Sharpay loved their parents dearly and depended on them for everything.

"Are we going home, Ry Ry?" Ryan nodded, and helped her sit up.

"Are you ready to go home?" Sharpay just smiled unsurely, Ryan took her hand into hers and stood up, Sharpay mirrored everything he did. "Thanks Taylor, you've been so much help. I'm glad it was you who she came to. See ya at school?"

"Yeah," she replied, walking them to the door and waving to them as they left her house. She turned around to Chad and threw an umbrella at him.

"OUCH!" He stood up quickly, and looked at her. "What was that for?!"

"For being such a freakin' jerk! Gosh, you nearly blew our cover!"

"No, I didn't. I was being Chad."

"Well Chad's an idiot."

--

Ryan opened the door to The Evans' household, letting Sharpay inside first and then coming inside himself. He locked the door behind him, just to be safe. Sharpay ran straight upstairs to her bedroom; Ryan squeezed his two eyebrows together, and stepped through to the corridor. His Mom was sitting at one end of the table, and his Father at the other. He just stared at them, watching them both on their stupid laptops. Not even talking, he couldn't believe they were working at a time like this! They were in the middle of a family crisis and they were working?! Ugh, stupid adults, they didn't know anything.

He quickly ran upstairs, chasing after Sharpay. He walked down the hallway and knocked on her bedroom door. No answer, he sighed and opened it, walking in.

"Shar, you in here?" He heard a sniffle, and looked to the bed that was placed in the middle of the gigantic room. He walked over to the bed and sat comfortably on the end of it, placing his hand on the bump, where her feet were. "Sharpay, it'll be fine, seriously, it'll be over before you know it."

"No, it won't." She said, muffled as she had her head under the cushion.

"Mom and Dad-"

"I'm not talking about Mom and Dad!" Ryan was confused, wasn't she crying about the divorce?

"Huh?" She sat up, throwing the cushion away from the bed, it landing on the floor somewhere.

"THIS IS MY ENTIRE FAULT! IF I HADN'T OF GOT INTO THAT STUPID ACCIDENT, MOM AND DAD WOULD STILL BE TOGETHER, AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE BETTER, I JUST KNOW IT. I HATE MYSELF, I'M SO STUPID!" She collapsed into floods of tears.

"Shar, it's not your fault. Why would it be your fault? If they're getting a divorce that means it's between them, and it's their fault. Not yours, it's totally not yours. You haven't done anything for it to be your fault, Shar. You know that, inside, you do. Right?" Sharpay just shrugged. "Come on, why would they be getting a divorce because of the accident? A divorce is built up Sharpay, it just means they're not getting along anymore, it doesn't mean they hate you. Or even me-..."

"But they hate each other!" She sniffled, putting her head in her hands.

"I don't know about that, only they do. You wanna have a family meeting?"

"No."

"Come on Shar, we have to find out why they're breaking up, and also who's going with who. And stuff."

"We're getting separated?" Ryan just shrugged and played with his hat.

"I don't know."

"But-But I-I…" Tears came flooding out of her eyes again, "N_oooo_! I don't want you to go, that's not fair!"

"I know it's not Shar, but I don't know what's happening. So shall I go ask them to have a meeting, or not?"

"I. Don't. Care!" She crossed her arms.

Ryan left the room, with Sharpay still sitting on her bed, crossing her arms. She was by herself in the room now, she looked around for something to do, she was bored, and she hated boredom.

"_TROY BOLTON IS NOT IN MY SHOW!"_

Sharpay frantically looked around the room; did she just hear a voice? She swore she did. She shrugged and picked up a book from the floor, it was the East High Yearbook. Sharpay smiled and opened it, seeing the pictures of all her classmates. She noticed all the gang, and a few other people that she had seen around school. Her eyes lingered over one in particular, she knew him, right?

It was Zeke Baylor who she was looking at, she remembered something to do with cookies or something sweet. She didn't know why, was she remembering something?

_"Okay… So would you like to watch me play ball sometime?"_

She closed her eyes and tried to remember, going over it in her mind.

_"I'd rather stick PINS in my eyes."_

_"But, wouldn't that be awfully uncomfortable?"_

_"EVAPORATE TALL PERSON!" Sharpay stormed away._

_"I bake! If that helps…" _

The blonde haired girl opened her eyes, and furrowed her eyebrows. Why could she remember this one moment, it was weird. It was like her encounter of that silly song that didn't mean anything, yesterday. She really wanted to know why she was so mean there, it was weird. And she looked rather annoyed with the boy. What had he done to her? Nothing that she remembered. 

She turned the pages in the Yearbook, and started noticing wherever she was it was scribbled over, with a pink pen. She couldn't make out the writing, but she figured that it was some sort of signature for herself. But why every picture? She didn't understand.

"_Humuhumunukunukuapua'a…_" She sang to herself, flipping the pages over. "_Malihiki Malihini-who, with me!_" It was like she knew all the words, they were just coming out. She thought it was pretty cool herself. "_Humuhumunukunukuapua'a Ooh! Hawana Wak-_…"

**TROY BOLTON!**

It was him, in the yearbook. She looked at him closely; he hadn't changed from last summer. She read his profile, everything seemed normal.

"Name – Troy Alexander Bolton, Age – 16, Favourite Sport – Basketball, Favourite Person – Gabriella Montez, Favourite Teacher – Jack-… Gabriella?" Sharpay touched the page. "I thought I was his favourite person? Things have changed Sharpay," she replied to herself.

"Shaaaaaaaaaaaaar?" She dropped the book onto the bed, and skipped downstairs, at the sound of Ryan's voice. She walked into the kitchen, where she heard talking and shuffling around.

"Sharpay, darling, how are you?" Sharpay totally ignored her Mother, and her Father too. She just turned to Ryan.

"What?" She asked him, wanting him to hurry up. She didn't want to be in the same house as her parents, never mind the same room.

"We're going to have a family meeting, but first the doctor wants to see you for your progression." Sharpay turned stiff. She didn't like the doctors, it smelt funny and the doctor she had seen before, when she was in hospital had a weird personality. She was kinda scared of him.

"I-I don't wanna go to the doctors."

"You have to, don't worry… I'll be there, okay?"

"Every step?"

"Every step of the way, Shar." The girl flung her arms around Ryan's neck and hugged him tightly. "I love you, Ry Ry."

"Love you too, Pay Pay." He said, in his child-like voice.

-

"That went well, don't you think?" Ryan questioned her, as they went of the hospital, and started walking towards their father's black BMW. He was feeling rather happy after the two hours long appointment they'd just had with Sharpay's doctor to go through countless of tests, and talk about what Ryan could do to help the process move along.

Sharpay had been doing all kind of things with a nurse, so Ryan had had some time alone with Doctor Scott to discuss what to do next. Ryan knew the guys had spoken a little to Sharpay about her past. He didn't know what they had told her exactly, but he knew Gabriella had mentioned a few things. Something about the Winter Musical. She told Ryan she thought it was smart to mention that, because it was a strong memory of Sharpay's.

But Doctor Scott said that they needed to do more to get her memory back. He had said that it would be a good idea to maybe recreate some of the important events that had happened in the last five years of her life. He had suggested they start with the car crash.

Ryan had been shocked to hear that, until Doctor Scott had explained it better. Ryan had stupidly thought he was going to have to crash his car with Sharpay in the passenger's seat, but then he was told, that he should let Sharpay drive down the road where everything happened, and pass the place where she drove into that other car. He was a bit afraid of how that might go, but since the doctor suggested it, he figured it would be better to do it.

The question was just: _How to teach her to drive? _

"Yeah, it was alright…" Sharpay mumbled, as she leaned herself against the car, watching Ryan as he locked the car open, "It was some weird tests I had to do. And I also had to ask so many weird questions. It was kinda hurting my head."

Ryan opened the car door, and decided to tell her about his plans, "Listen, Pay Pay," he said, hands on the open door, "Doctor Scott suggested we do something to trig your memory, and I'm thinking it might be a good idea. So what do you say we do that before we head home for the family meeting?"

Sharpay scrunched her nose at the mentioning of the family meeting, but shrugged her shoulders too, "Suuure…" she mumbled, because it would also give her more time before the dreaded meeting, "What did he suggest we do then? More talking?"

"No." Ryan said, as he grabbed her hand, and placed the car keys in her palm, "He suggested we drive."

Sharpay could feel her jaw hitting her chest, "Eh?" she managed to squeak out.

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle, "He said you should drive." He explained, "Actually. You should drive pass the place where you crashed your car. He says it's a good idea to sorta 'recreate' some important places. And this is really important. Right?"

Sharpay nodded, and hesitantly got into the car, eyes scanning the weird keyboard. She had seen her mother and father drive before, but this was really weird. She knew, that she in fact, had been behind a wheel before (duh, she'd crashed her own car!), but she didn't remember any of it. How was she gonna do this?

Ryan went around the car, and quickly got into the car as well. He offered her an optimistic smile, "Now, I know it's not your dear pink car, but it's all we have. And I bet it's gonna come back to you as soon as we hit the road. I'm right here though, to cut in if anything goes wrong."

"But I don't even know what these thingies mean!" Sharpay whined, and pointed at the different buttons in the car. She really had no idea. Was it not very dangerous to put her behind the wheel like that?

Ryan hid a smirk; he had a feeling it would come right to her, when she started the car, "Just try," he said, "just try, Paypay. I know it'll work."

Sharpay swallowed a big lump in her throat, and put the key in the ignition. She carefully turned it around, and was so startled when the car started, that she turned it back, and ripped the key out again. She glanced briefly at Ryan, before trying one more time. This time she managed to leave the key in, actually move the car a bit.

She was really shocked, when a familiar feeling shot through her body, and she actually knew which things to pull, and which buttons to push. She turned her head to the side, her jaw hanging open, and was met by a smiley Ryan.

She quickly drove out of the parking lot, happy with her success of starting the car. It was a bit unfamiliar, but she still felt like she had done this before. She felt as if she had done this a million times, and was good at it. The phrases you used when you drove, such as 'parallel parking' were gone, as well as was the words you call the instruments in the car. She knew a wheel was a wheel, but then that was also just about it. She didn't need to know all that, though, she realized. Because she was able to drive down the road (a bit slow, though), and through the city without many problems.

One time, the car almost stopped when she was waiting for the red light, but she managed to keep it going. She was kinda proud of herself, and continued to the other end of town.

"Hey, you're doing good!" Ryan exclaimed, and reached a hand over, to pad her thigh, "I'm proud of you, Paypay."

She didn't dare to turn her head and look at him, so she just nodded, "Thank you, Rysie." She smiled.

Ryan ceased his moment to ask her a bit of questions. He pointed at the 'brake' well knowing what it was called, and hoped Sharpay would remember too, "What's that called?" he asked.

Sharpay glanced down briefly, before looking at the road again, "Uhm…" she trialed off, and tried to think of the word, but she couldn't remember. And she hated herself for it. She just couldn't do anything about it, but try harder, "I – I can't remember…" she pouted.

Ryan felt his hope sink, and glanced softly at her. He could see she was sad as well. He didn't want to bring her down, after being able to drive the car, but he had to explore her memory a bit more; he just had to. Maybe it'd be better if he turned it around? He smiled to himself, and therefore said, "Give it a bit of brake, Sharpay!"

Her eyes went wide, and she gulped. He knew he hadn't trigged her memory or anything. Now she just looked even worse than before. She managed to squeak out, though; "What? BRAKE!?"

Ryan chuckled softly, even if he knew he wasn't supposed to. She was just so darn funny!, "It's the left one, Paypay, the left one!"

She groaned, but hit the brake softly nonetheless, "It's not funny, Rysie!" she told him, voice whiny, "I thought I was doing great, but then I remember nothing!"

"I'm sorry, Paypay." Ryan said, and calmed down a bit. He knew it wasn't funny, and it wasn't nice of him to laugh at her. He should be more supportive instead.

A silence came between them, while Sharpay concentrated on her driving. It wasn't too long before they were driving pass the place where she crashed her car, though. Sharpay was still watching the road, her eyes hurting, because she was also trying to remember. But she got nothing. Not even a tiny memory of what was brake and what was not.

The only thing she could see was a flash of white light, and nothing more. When she told Ryan this, he looked disappointed again, and she felt low.

"I'm sorry, Ry." She said, as she drove to the side of the road, and stopped the car, "I'm trying the best I can. I drove the car, though! Isn't that something?!"

Ryan nodded softly, "It's great, Paypay. It really is." He said, as he reached over, and placed an arm around her shoulders, "I'm so very proud of you for even doing this. But we gotta work more on everything. I want you to feel good again. I want you to be well. We have to work harder."

Sharpay nodded, touched by his sweet words. Ryan was the best brother anyone could ever want, and she was so lucky to have him. She remembered when they used to fight over silly things, when they were younger. But now they were more grown, and they acted more mature. It was wonderful like that. She smiled at him, and kissed his cheek, "Then Ryan…" she said, and took in a deep breath, "Shoot. Ask me. Anything."

Ryan leaned back in his seat, and thought things over for awhile. What could he ask her? He had to start with something easy. Not too easy, but definitely not hard either. He wanted to help her, not cause her pain. He knew she'd get so angry with herself if she couldn't remember, so he had to start out easy. "Oh yeah. On the night you crashed your car… Do you remember what happened before? What caused you to run away like that?"

Sharpay leaned back in the comfortable seat, and closed her eyes tightly; hoping it might help her to remember better. She bit her lower lip, and tried to go through her brain, memory for memory… She remembered the kiss with Troy on Halloween, and then… small flashes of things she knew had to be her life, but had no recall doing.

She was talking to Zeke by her locker again… And she was not being all nice. 'Evaporate tall person!' echoed through her mind, when the song took over, and the mental image of Troy watching her burned itself onto her corneas. The silly song kept shooting through her head, when suddenly a new picture flashed up, of Gabriella yelling at her, in front of a pool.

…why would Gabriella be yelling at her? Weren't they best friends?

She opened her eyes, and turned to look at Ryan, confusion shooting through her eyes. What was up with this? She cleared her throat, "Ry…" she trailed off, her eyes searching his, "Was… was Gabriella and I ever fighting?"

Ryan seemed to listen closer, "Yeah…?"

"Well…" she trailed off, searching for the right words. She had no idea how to say this, so she was just gonna try, "I sorta,… saw her yelling at me. But that's all. And of course, I mean… friends can fight, right?"

"Sure they can." Ryan said. He was wondering if he should mention the about thousandth times the two girls had been bickering, but decided not to do it. It would just confuse her even more and that wouldn't be good. It was better to start with the night she crashed her car. After all, that was what her doctor had suggested, "But what about the night? Do you remember?"

Sharpay took in a deep breath, and did her best to recall the night. She saw the white light again, and heard a loud crash for her ears. But other than that… nothing. She really didn't remember any of it. It was really creepy. She thought it might have something to do with a roof (perhaps the one on their house?), but she wasn't sure at all.

"I'm sorry, Ryan." She said, voice sad, "I really don't remember any of it."

Ryan gulped, and reached a hand out to calm her a bit. He was slightly taken aback though, when the waterworks started. Tears started rolling down her cheeks, and her brown eyes were huge with sadness, "Hey, hey!" he said, and finally did what he should have done a long time ago; he enveloped her in a hug… "Don't cry, Sharpay. Don't cry. It'll be okay."

"No, it won't!" Sharpay mumbled into his shirt, burying her head into the nape of his neck, happy to feel some comfort from the brother she loved so much, "It won't be okay at all, Ryan… What if I never remember, what if it's gonna be like this all my life? What am I gonna do… I'm so behind everything."

"Sccchy…" Ryan whispered, and hugged her tightly, "You will remember, Paypay. Just give it time…"

--

"…so," Auchanté finished, as she reached her hand across the table, and grabbed Sharpay's hand, "we really just need to figure out what to do with you guys. We've already decided that your father is gonna live here, and I'll be moving out. You're free to stay with whoever you want. But it'll be better to at least stay here until I've got a place to live."

Sharpay swallowed a lump in her throat, and ripped her hand out of her mother's. She then slid closer to her father, and leaned against him, "I wanna stay with Daddy…" she said, and snuggled closer to his body.

He kissed her on the head, "I'd love for you to stay here, Princess." Vance said, his voice sweet as honey. He loved his daughter so much, and he knew he had always spoiled her, but he just couldn't help it. Sharpay was his everything – he loved her with all his heart. Not that he didn't love Ryan, it was just different with his little princess.

"Thanks Daddy." She whispered, and kissed his cheek lovingly.

Ryan took in a deep breath, and turned to look at his mother, "I'm gonna stay here too, mother." He said, his voice a bit sad because he really was a mommy's boy, "At least until Sharpay feels better. Then I might come live with you."

Auchanté nodded softly, a sad smile on her face, "I understand, Ducky." She replied. She wanted Ryan to come with her, but she understood he had to take care of his twin for now. Everything would be better once Sharpay felt better too.

"I'm sorry, mother." He replied, with a slight nod.

Vance couldn't help but smile, "She's gonna be here a lot though, right Aud?" he said, looking at his soon to be ex-wife, "You're gonna have to get your things, and we're gonna split everything. You'll see her all the time."

"That's for sure." Auchanté promised her kids, with a huge smile too.

Sharpay pulled out of her father's embrace, and turned to her mother, "But Mommy," said she, eyes worried, "You don't have a job? How are you gonna pay for everything?"

"Your father and I are still friends, Sharpay." Auchanté told her daughter, and gave her husband a quick glance, "He'll pay alimony, I'll be able to live with the savings from my father. I don't have to take a job."

"And I'll always be there to help her." Vance said, as he was still stroking Sharpay's blonde hair, "I don't hate your mother. It's just better when we're not married, because then we can actually be in the same house once in awhile. No worries Sharpay, everything will work out."

Sharpay nodded, and smiled at her family, "Okay." She confirmed, and she really hoped it would. Everything seemed to go wrong though. She couldn't remember the last five years of her life, and her parents were getting divorced.

She had a tough time seeing the bright side.

* * *

_Thank you so much for the reviews. We worked hard on getting this chapter up soon, and it was definitely posted a lot faster than the last one! _

_We hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and please remember to leave us another review. _

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own HSM. _

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	7. Chapter Seven

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Seven**

**A Drink Too Far**

It was a cold and breezy day, yet the sun was shining happily through the small amount of clouds dotted around in the blue sky. The two boys running around in the back yard of Troy Bolton's house didn't feel the cold, or the breeze for that matter. They were running around, throwing a basketball back and forth between them, occasionally making shots for the basket and usually getting them in.

"Hey Troy?" Chad asked, as he threw the orange ball at the basket. Troy watched the ball as it landed perfectly in the basket.

"Yeah?" He said, distractedly. He ran over and received the ball from where it bounced out of the basket. He bounced it back over to the court and threw it at Chad.

"I saw you checking Sharpay out, man." Troy immediately looked up, stopping in his footsteps and instantly defended himself.

"I wasn't." Chad raised his eyebrow, a smile on his face. He threw the ball back to Troy.

"You like the new Sharpay, don't cha?" Troy shook his head, catching the ball and throwing it back with more force.

"I don't like her, she's hot but you don't pet a mountain lion, right?" Chad bounced the ball, shrugging.

"I guess you don't like her then, I was just wondering whether you did. Best friends need to know this about each other, okay?" Troy nodded and ran, bouncing the ball out of Chad's hands and into his, making a shot for the basket.

"Score!" He shouted out, high five-ing Chad. "That was a mean shot; we should use that in the game." Chad nodded, not really taking notice of him. He was thinking about Troy and Sharpay, he did like her, he knew it.

"Are you sure you don't-…"

"Okay man, she's okay. Okay?!" He snapped, letting the ball bounce out of the court.

"Chillax dude. I just think that it's sick, it's like going out with an eleven year old."

"Well that eleven year old and I have memories, we have memories that I'm not going to forget and that she hasn't either. Her brain stopped at the exact point in our lives where we both had our first kiss, and that's a big moment in a girl's, and a guy's life, you know?" He said, breathing heavily as he had been running. "I can't forget that."

"So you do like her?" Chad chipped in.

"Yeah, well. I kinda do, it's weird. I mean, it's like, she changed overnight. She's a whole new Sharpay, but she's growing up in the way that she was supposed to as well. I just really can't figure out why she was so mean to everyone. It really bugs me." Chad looked at him.

"You don't know?"

"I don't know what?" Troy said, intrigued by the situation. Chad walked over to Troy and put a hand on his shoulder, sympathetically.

"It was you, man." Troy was confused, it was him what? "It was you that made her that way, you broke her heart."

"What?" He managed to let out; it was him that made Sharpay like she was today? How did Chad know all of this? Man, was he confused. "What happened?"

"Well… it was a few days after the kiss…"

_Sharpay skipped into school, holding her Barbie doll in one hand, frequently muttering a few words to it. She sang to herself, looking around for her new boyfriend Troy. She looked around, and around and all over. She couldn't find him anywhere in the school yard. She had to notify the teacher!_

"_Miss Brooklyn?" She tugged on the teacher's skirt. "Miss Brooklyn?!" The teacher wasn't listening to her, she was talking to some supply teacher who definitely wasn't more important that Sharpay. "MISS BROOKLYN?!" She shouted, finally getting the attention of the young teacher._

"_What can I do for you, Sharpay?" She kneeled down to Sharpay's height, for Sharpay's age, she was a little smaller than the rest of the grade, and the grade below that. _

"_Troy's missing; we have to get a search party! Call the police, it's an emergency!" Sharpay said, being overly dramatic. Miss Brooklyn laughed, her mid-length hair swishing past her face. Sharpay liked this teacher, she was nice to Sharpay and understood her, unlike some of the other teachers who just told her off for no reason._

"_Sharpay honey, why don't you go look for Troy properly before we get the police out, okay?" Sharpay smiled and nodded, turning to leave, but then she realized something._

"_I've already looked proper-properly for him!" She said, trying desperately to pronounce her words properly. _

"_You can't have looked everywhere!" She chuckled, "why don't you go look outside and I'll be out in five minutes, I'm just going to finish my conversation with the new supply." Sharpay scowled at the woman, standing next to her and walked away._

"_Troooo-oooy?" She sang in her child-like tone. No one answered. "TROOOOOYYY?!" She shouted again, no answer. She sighed and sat on the wall, "I'm annoyed Barbie, really, really annoyed! I can't seem to find Troyie!" _

_Sharpay sat there for fifteen minutes, waiting for Miss Brooklyn, but finally she gave up waiting and looked around, trying to find him. It was now playtime and everyone was outside, running around, playing tag and hide and go seek. Sharpay was angry with everyone, they should be looking for Troy, not playing silly games!_

"_EXCUSE ME BUT WE HAVE A CRISISISIS! TROY IS MISSING!" She shouted. No one took any notice of her; she went back to her wall and folded her arms. "I hate people."_

_Sharpay heard Troy's voice from the hallway, she stood up from the wall and walked inside. She looked around and shouted his name a couple of times, no answer. She heard a shuffle from inside one of the classrooms; she walked in and saw Troy holding hands with Cassandra Green. _

"_What are you doing?" She asked a little hurt. Cassandra stepped up, smirking._

_  
"I'm stealing your boyfriend!" She said, in a louder voice than Sharpay, trying to over power her._

_  
"Wh-why?" She took a step backwards, her eyes tearing up. Troy was her first boyfriend and he'd cheated on her. _

"_Because I don't like you." Cassandra took a step forward, Sharpay felt a little insecure and took another one backwards. She wasn't used to people speaking to her like this, she was used to people who were nice to her. They were her friends._

"_I thought we were friends, Cassie." _

"_Not anymore!" She snapped. Troy just stood there, looking innocent._

"_Troy, why did you go with her? I've been looking for you all day!" Troy shrugged it off. "Tell me, aren't I good enough for you?" _

"_Sharpay, I love Cassie, she's my girlfriend." Sharpay looked surprised._

"_I thought I was your girlfriend?" She wondered whether she liked Troy anymore, he was a turning into Cassandra._

"_No, I changed."_

"_You can't have a girlfriend, and then gain another one, but not tell your first girlfriend!" Sharpay stepped up, she wasn't going to be beaten down like this. She had to toughen up and tell them what was right. _

"_I'm sorry-…"_

"_You're sorry?" She laughed, "Sorry can't fix everything, Troy." _

"I-" Troy tried to explain, but Cassandra butted in. 

"_Sharpay, Sharpay, Sharpay. Poor little Sharpay. You think you're so good with your fancy clothes and fancy house. Well not really, because everybody hates you!" That echoed in Sharpay's mind  
__  
"Everybody hates you, everybody hates you, everybody hates you!" It played in her mind like a broken record, over and over again. _

"_Everyone hates me?" _

"Yeah, because you're a dog," She stated. 

"_I'm not a dog; I'm human like you and everyone else." _

"Then why's your name Sharpay? That's a dog's name!" 

"_So?" _

_"You're named after a dog, so therefore you are a dog." _

"_You're the dog Cassandra; you're the-the female dog!"_

_"What?" Cassandra asked, confusedly. _

"_You're-You're," Sharpay's Mother told her not to say this word, __**ever**__. She was told that it was a bad word and not to use it, but Sharpay had to. She just had to call Cassandra it. "A BITCH!" Cassandra gasped, Troy looked at her. Tears started to stream down Sharpay's face, she ran out of the classroom and into the girl's toilets, where she sat with her head in her hands, weeping._

"Oh shit man, it was me!" Troy sighed, and looked at Chad, knowingly. "I broke her heart." Troy thought for a moment, he didn't mean to hurt Sharpay, it was Cassandra's fault anyways, not his. Cassandra told him to say those things, he was vulnerable and of course, Cassandra offered cookies, and Troy was a sucker for cookies.

"Wait, wait, wait." Troy said, thinking about something. "Hey man, you know in the summer, when we went to Lava Springs?"

"Yeah?" Chad asked, unsure of where he was going with this.

"Didn't Sharpay have a huge crush on me? I mean she tried it on with me, she tried to sabotage mine and Gabriella's relationship." Chad nodded.

"Yeah, what's that got to do with it?" He asked, still unsure.

"Well that means that she doesn't hate me," Troy scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe she turned that way because of… because of Cassandra! That's it! It's not my fault. It was Cassandra's!"

"That's awesome, dude. Let's play some ball."

--

It was rather weird, the park was deserted, and no one was there except two girls, sitting on the swings. The blonde looked a little new to sitting on the swing, without anyone holding her but the brunette looked able and a lot more confident in the situation. The blonde was looking at the grass, playing with the autumn leaves that lay on the ground with her feet.

"It's weird you know." She said, as if they'd just had a long conversation about how weird this thing was. Gabriella looked up at her, with a confused look planted on her face.

"What's weird?" Sharpay looked up.

"Being sixteen," Gabriella let out an 'oh' and let Sharpay go on. "It's scary not knowing what has went on in five years of my life. I mean, I'm glad I have you guys to help me remember, or well… tell me," she let out a small laugh. "You know, I feel like I've known you for ages. Like I've known you for years, well really I've only known you, in my mind, for a short period of time." Gabriella smiled softly, but she instantly felt guilty.

"Hopefully you'll get your memory back soon." Gabriella said, quietly, starting to swing back and forth.

"Yeah," Sharpay let out a sigh. "I feel out of it, though."

"Oh no, you shouldn't."

"I do though, and I also feel sorry for you." She took a breath, "I mean, you've had to put up with me. You've had to explain everything all over again to me, I'm glad you've been here for me Gabriella." Gabriella let out a warm smile, reassuring the blonde that everything was okay.

"Don't feel sorry for me, this is voluntary. I am your best friend! It's what best friends do, right?" Sharpay nodded.

"You know, you and the gang could have been really mean, and told me like loads of the wrong stuff, changing my personality, but I know now that you guys are the best friends I could ever have!" Gabriella gulped.

"Um, Sharpay I need to tell you something…" Sharpay nodded and looked oblivious to what she was going to say. "We, I and the gang, of course… we-"

Gabriella's cell phone started to ring, she thought for a moment, was that the sign that she shouldn't tell Sharpay? Maybe… but anyways, she answered the call. It was her Mom calling her to come and eat dinner. The girls said their goodbyes and Sharpay sat alone on the swing.

She looked around at the trees and the flowers around her, she got so memorized by the pretty flowers that she lost track of the time. It was now getting darker by the minute and colder too. The temperature had dropped rapidly, and Sharpay started to notice it had been around two hours since Gabriella had left in a rush to eat.

She didn't have a cell phone, or a watch or anything to get her in contact with someone who knew the park well enough to help her get out of it, and back home. She watched a bird fly into a tree to find her youngsters; she smiled slightly but then remembered the situation she was in.

"Hello?" She stood up, looking around. "Is anyone there, please can you help me?" She shouted out but there came no answer. She took a step forward to roam around, but she didn't want to get lost, she thought it would be better off to stay in the same place, and then maybe Gabriella could tell Ryan about her. She lay down on the wooden bench, curling up to keep herself warm and closed her eyes.

She suddenly sat upright feeling someone's warm breath linger over her freezing cold body. She was terrified; a black figure was standing right in front of her.

"Please don't hurt me!" She cried out. The figure laughed.

"Shar, it's me!" Sharpay instantly recognized the voice, it was Troy. Sharpay felt her cheeks turn beetroot; he could have told her that it was only him. That would have been easier.

"What-What are you doing here?" She shivered, stuttering on her words. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around her shaking arms.

"Evening jog," he chuckled. "Dad makes me do it." Sharpay let out an 'oh' and nodded, slowly.

"You scared me." She said, pulling the jack around to keep her warmer.

"I'm sorry." He helped her up off of the bench, "here I'll take you home."

--

It was the weekend and they were all hanging out in the Evans' backyard. Sharpay and Ryan's parents weren't there. Their mother was at the hotel she currently lived in, and their father was out doing some business. They had the whole house for themselves except for the maids and the cooks. But they were nice to have. How would they get dinner without a cook?

Gabriella kneeled down in front of the pool, and brushed her fingers gently through the water, "Awh, it's too cold to go in." she whispered, as she wiped her fingers off in her jeans.

"I know," Taylor mumbled. She was sitting next to Gabriella, her feet in the water, just to get a bit of a cool down, "Summer ended too early this year. I dunno what happened."

"I think we were just caught up in everything." Ryan mumbled. He was happily kicked back in a pool chair, Kelsi right next to him, in a chair too, "With Sharpay, and everything." He added, with a lick of his lips.

"You're probably right." Taylor smiled.

Gabriella swallowed hard, remembering the conversation she had had with Sharpay the other day in the park. It had really hurt her when Sharpay had showed her how much confidence she had in them. She had felt so guilty about everything they were doing. She knew they shouldn't have done it, and now she just wanted to change it to the way things were. They should have told her the truth. But now it was too late – if they told her she would get so hurt. She would probably never talk to them again.

A loud shriek was heard from the other end of the yard and the four of them turned their heads to the side, and found Chad and Troy chasing Sharpay around the yard. Chad had just caught her and was holding on to her while Troy was tickling her. You could still tell she wasn't sixteen in her mind yet, but it was also getting better. They could feel it.

"Aw, look at her…" Taylor mumbled, a happy smile on her face.

"She looks so happy now." Kelsi added, with a sigh. "It seems like things are getting better for her. Maybe, in not so long, she will remember everything and we can all just hang out like we used to? I mean, not that there's anything wrong with her now, it's just… weird."

"I know what you mean." Ryan replied, and nodded his head in agreement, "It's weird having a twin sister who's only eleven, I swear; she's doing some weird things."

Gabriella nodded too, "Of course she is." She said, and turned her head to them, "She's allowed to do weird things. We won't understand it."

"PUT ME DOWN!" Sharpay exclaimed, and wriggled herself out of Chad's grasp, "You're gonna get back for that one, Chad!"

"Oh really?" Chad asked her, with a slight smile. He could see why Troy would like her (even if it was disgusting). She was hot. She had the curves of a very well shaped 16-year-old, but had the mind of an 11-year-old. It didn't make any sense. But truth was – even if Troy did like her, he couldn't date her. And if he did date her, it wouldn't be easy because those five years she had missed, did a lot in her life. It was puberty. It was where you became confident with your looks, learned about your sexuality and experienced all the first-times.

Chad wasn't even sure if Sharpay was still a virgin. He actually had no idea.

"Yes." Sharpay nodded, before she skipped past him and jumped onto a swing. "Can you push me, Chad? Pwetty pwease?"

Chad couldn't help but laugh when Troy sat down next to her too, and gave him a pouty look as well, "Pwetty pwease, Chad?" he mumbled, his blue eyes big.

Chad laughed even harder and turned around to hail Taylor, "Tay babe? Come over and help me with these babies, please?"

Taylor laughed and quickly got her feet out of the pool. She rushed across the lawn and stopped behind Troy, "You're taking the blonde princess and I'll do the basketball king."

"You've got yourself a deal, woman." Chad laughed, before he gently started pushing Sharpay's swing, knowing he shouldn't do it too hard at first or he would startle her. Sure, she was eleven, but she had always acted a lot younger than she really was, so who knew what she would do if he surprised her? Even as a 16-year-old at Lava Springs during summer, she would pout and give her father the puppy-dog-look if things didn't go her way. No one dared to mess with her because they knew she would get her way.

"Yay!" she squealed, as the wind blew in her hair and a laugh escaped her mouth. She turned her head to the side and laughed at Troy, who couldn't help but laugh just because she was.

There was just something about her, he decided, something great. Something that made him all bubbly on the inside. She always made him happy, and just watching her would make his day. Her previous personality had overshadowed how pretty and amazing she really was. He didn't know why, but she had been putting up this wall since everything with him and Cassie. But now it wouldn't come back – that wall – because he wouldn't go with Cassie again. Even if he was with Gabriella, she understood that, since so many years had passed.

He really believed they were doing her a favour with this 'change' of her life. He hoped he could get another chance with her sometime, but as for right now, it was probably too stupid. Considering he had Gabriella, and she was still 'eleven'. But he wasn't sure if he could control himself around her so much longer.

There was just something about Sharpay Evans. Eleven or not.

--

"So, what do you guys wanna watch?" Kelsi asked, as they were all gathered in the TV room, in their night clothes, ready to have a great movie night. It would be so much fun – they had never really done that before.

"Just something funny." Taylor quickly said, "It's something everyone likes. Don't you have a lot of comedies, Ry?"

"Sure." Ryan nodded, and pointed his thumb towards a shelf behind him, "That shelf is all comedies."

"Just no Jim Carrey movies." Gabriella quickly butted in, "I can't stand that guy."

"Why don't we just watch something scary instead?" Chad dumbly suggested, as his eyes went to the shelf filled with scary movies. They always used to watch those when it was just the guys hanging out with Ryan. He liked the idea of them all together, but they had refused in the past, because they didn't want Sharpay there.

"No!" Sharpay quickly said, and shook her head wildly, her two braids hitting Kelsi across the face, "I don't like horror films. I'll be scared." She gave them a pouty-look and no one had the heart to complain.

"Why don't we just watch 'Legally Blonde'?" Gabriella questioned, "I know it's sort of a chick flick, but you guys will probably like it."

"No!" Kelsi said, as she found one of her favourite movies, and picked it out, "Let's watch 'Euro Trip'! It's so hilarious."

Taylor nodded and bounced her head, "_Don't tell Scotty, Scotty doesn't know_, _Scotty doesn't know…_"

"_Yeah, don't tell Scotty,_" Gabriella added with a smile, "_'Cuz Scotty doesn't kno-ow…_"

Soon everyone was singing 'Scotty Doesn't Know' except Sharpay, who was watching them all, a bit sad. She had no idea what they were singing. She didn't even know this song. And it seemed like everyone else did. She hated not being a part of something… What was she going to do about this, now?

"Guys…" she whispered, but no one heard her, "Guys?" she tried again, but decided to do something drastic, "GUYS!?"

They all stopped singing, and turned to look at her, a bit surprised.

"What's wrong, Pay?" Ryan questioned.

"Can't we just watch the movie?" she pouted. And if they did, she would know the song too, and could be a part of this sing-along-thingy.

"Of course we can, Sharpay." Troy said, and padded her leg lightly. Then he leaned forward and placed the DVD in the DVD player, before pressing play. Ryan readjusted the lights, the screen and the sound so everything would be perfect.

"Did we have anything to drink?" Taylor then asked him, while Kelsi dug into her bag to find some sweets. She had brought some because they had a lot of leftovers from a huge birthday during summer. Ryan and Sharpay could have brought everything, but it was alright. She wanted to give something too, since she never really had.

She threw three bags of chips on the floor, knowing it wouldn't last too long with Chad and Troy in the house, and also a few other things. She hoped it was okay, and the others would think so too.

"Wow, Kels!" Chad exclaimed, as he immediately opened up a bag of chips, "These are like, my favourites!"

She smiled beneath the hat she was still wearing even with her PJs, and turned around to the TV.

"I have them right here." Ryan answered Taylor, after finally getting the movie started. He stood up from his seat and went across the room, where he had placed a whole lot of different drinks. "I have some uh… Smirnoff?" he held out a few, and Gabriella nodded, "Cuba Caramel, cocoa to add in, Straw'n'berry, some sodas, vodka… Uh, basically a lot of things!"

"Bring 'em over, dude!" Troy said, and stood up to help his friend carry them across the room. They walked back and forward a few times before everything was set on the floor, and the movie was well started.

Taylor, who was like, the best mixer, quickly started making everyone her best drink. It was the cocoa/Cuba Caramel thing Ryan had talked about before, and they all loved it. She lined seven glasses up on the table next to her, and did her thing. When it was done she gave one to each, and Sharpay took hers, eyeing it very carefully.

"Uhm…" she looked around at the others who were already sipping theirs. In fact, Chad had just downed his, "Guys?" she questioned, and nudged Troy in the side, "Is this… alcohol?"

"Yeah?" He said, confused as to why she would ask that, "Of course. It's Cuba Caramel. Ryan says it's your favourite."

"Sure, but…" she swallowed hard, and placed her cup on the floor, "I've never drunk this before. Can I – can I just have some cocoa?"

Troy realized his mistake, and reached for a clean glass, quickly filling cocoa into it. He pushed the other glass across the table for Chad to take, and watched Sharpay's smile as she got what she wanted. Of course she wouldn't have tasted this before. How many 11-year-olds were used to drinking this sort of thing? He hadn't tried this before he was fifteen or something! Sure, he had tasted it before, but they hadn't gotten together just to drink and have fun like today, before sometime last year…

--

When the movie was done they were all a bit tipsy. It wasn't much, not like they couldn't walk or anything, just a bit. Gabriella could still walk straight and she was the one who was easiest affected by alcohol.

"Oh, let's play Truth or Dare!" Kelsi suggested, as she finished off a Smirnoff Berry with a smile on her face, "We can ask each other silly questions and do funny dares!"

"Yeah!" Gabriella agreed and quickly grabbed one of the empty bottles, placing it on the floor between herself and Kelsi. The rest of the guys quickly joined them down there, to take part in the fun.

"This, I've done before!" Sharpay said and happily clapped her hands. This was something she knew – not like that horrible movie and those nasty drinks. She had dared to take a sip of Troy's mix and had spitted it all out before it even touched her tongue.

And that movie! Gosh, how could they even watch something like that? The only thing those characters talked about was sex and how they did it in Europe. Crazy, European sex or something. She had no idea what they all found so funny about that, but Chad had been laughing like crazy, and even if Gabriella had tried to hide it, Sharpay knew she had enjoyed it too.

She suspected it had something to do with the age difference, but it was still a lot. She couldn't imagine she would have ever watched something like that even in that age. There was just no way! She would still be watching Carebears and The Power Puff Girls or something. Alright, so maybe that was to push it. But she wouldn't be watching _anything_ with violence, sex, drinking or drugs in. She knew that.

"Great!" Taylor smirked, and placed a hand on the bottle. She took a deep breath and looked around at them all, "Let's do the promise, shall we?"

They all nodded, so she continued.

"Everything said and done in this room stays between the seven of us." She told them, very seriously. Her voice was a bit affected by the alcohol, but it wasn't bad, "And that means no exceptions." Her head snapped to Sharpay's side, and she gave her a look, "Do you understand that, princess? You don't tell on us, deal?"

Sharpay was a bit startled by the sudden change of voice.

"Taylor!" Ryan slurred, and wrapped his arm around Sharpay's shoulder, "Don't talk to her like that. She's just eleven. She won't kiss and tell."

"No!" Sharpay quickly said, disgusted by the thought, "I won't kiss anybody. And if I do, I definitely won't tell."

Chad couldn't help but laugh, "Shar – Sharpay… that's not what it means…"

But before he managed to explain to her what it really meant, Troy had shut him up, and was motioning for Taylor to start the game, "Go on. Come now, Tay. We don't have all night." He paused and swallowed, "Well, we kinda do, but that's not the point… Let the game begin!"

"LET THE GAME BEGIN!"

Taylor drew in a deep breath and the bottle landed on Ryan. She immediately broke into a fit of giggles, but got her act together, "Ryan…" she said, now very serious, "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth… of course."

"Are you really – are you really gay?" she wanted to know.

Sharpay's first thought was: _Eeeeew! Gay?! My twin brother is not gay. How can she even ask that? Puh-lease, he would never even look at another guy. When he finally decides to date it will be all well-behaved girls. _

But then Ryan nodded, "Sure." He said, "I've had a boyfriend before. But I've also had a girlfriend."

"So you think you're a little bit of both?" Kelsi chipped in, as she grabbed a glass from the table, and drank whatever was in it.

"Sure!" Ryan just said, before he reached down and spun the bottle. It landed on Chad.

"Chad, my man!" Ryan said, and reached out to give him a high-five. However, his aim wasn't very good, so he hit him on the forehead, "…whoops." He just said, before adding, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." Chad said, and licked his lips. And then he just had to add; "I'm not a fag. I can take dares."

Ryan didn't comment further on that. In fact, Sharpay wasn't even sure if it had gotten through to him. She was taken aback by all of this. Really. She had never thought her friends would be this way. She had never believed they could act like this. Drink, and-and… have boyfriends and girlfriends. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be a part of this evening anymore.

She was about to open her mouth and announce she was going to bed, when Ryan came up with a dare.

"I dare you to- to make out with Taylor for a half hour, and if a bed is needed, you have permission to take my room." He quickly rambled off.

Sharpay's eyes went wide, and she was really about to object that this was enough, when Taylor shrugged and pulled Chad with her, onto the couch, where they locked lips faster than Sharpay had ever seen anyone do. And it wasn't just a peck either. It was a kiss like Sharpay had never seen it before. She had never tried that; never thought her friends could do that.

It was scary…

She closed her eyes, and turned her head away from them, while the others seemed very fascinated by their friends making out. Sharpay couldn't take it anymore. She stood up so suddenly, that Kelsi jumped out of her skin, and knocked two glasses over.

"Stop it!" she shrieked, so loudly that Chad and Taylor broke apart, "What do you think you're doing? It's gross – you- you have your tongue down her throat, Chad! Stop it right now! Not on my couch! And you're…" she swallowed and looked around the room, where glasses and empty bottles were lying around, "…you're drinking. It's gross. Stop it right now. What do you think you're doing?" she repeated.

"But Sharpay…" Troy said, and stood up, to be on eye level with her, "We're just… we're doing what we normally do. We're being teenagers."

Sharpay had tears in her eyes, and was trying to hold them from falling, "If this… if this is what it's like being a teenager, then I'm glad I went back to being eleven. I don't _ever_ wanna experience this!"

And then she turned around in her fluffy, Snoopy slippers and rushed out of the room, braids flying after her. She didn't even look back, she just hurried up the stairs, leaving six confused friends behind.

"What just happened?" Gabriella slurred, as she picked up a half empty Smirnoff and took a sip.

"I think we just…" Troy didn't really know how to explain it. He knew they had taken it too far. They shouldn't have been drinking; they shouldn't have done all these things. She was only eleven! She didn't understand it, and they had to understand that. Why couldn't they? "…I think we just took it too far." He told them, before he rushed after her, to go make it up to her.

"Well-well," Ryan said, and shot Chad and Taylor, who was still lying there, just looking at the drama unfold, a look, "you've not done a half hour yet. Get started."

"Yeah," Kelsi agreed, with a slight smile, "and oh – happy humping."

--

Troy could hear crying through the closed door, and he believed he had hit rock bottom. He couldn't understand himself and the others. They knew how much trouble she had with everything going on, so why did they have to place this bomb on her?

He hated himself for it. He hated himself for hurting her. He cared about her so much, how could he even do it? He… he almost loved her. He wasn't quite sure if he did yet, but he could feel that he was getting there. It didn't matter that he already had Gabriella and that Sharpay was going through a tough time in her life – not being able to remember five years was tough – because he was falling for her. And he was falling hard.

He just had no idea what to do about it? He couldn't just… he couldn't just tell her. He had to take it slow. Not do it wrong. It was important. Sharpay was important.

He knocked on her door, and placed an ear against the wood, "Sharpay? Please let me in… I'm worried about you."

"Go away." Was her muffled response, "I don't want to talk to you… I just – I wanna be alone."

"Can't I come in, please?" Troy asked her, "I want to make sure you're alright. Please, let me in… I want to talk."

There was a long silence between them, and the only thing he could hear were her sniffles. They were loud and clear through the door, and he was really worried she wasn't going to let him inside. But then she spoke up, and his heart fluttered.

"Come in then." She told him.

He smiled happily and opened the door slowly, stepping into the room. She was sitting on her bed, tears rolling down her pale cheeks. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked up at him with those big brown eyes he adored so much.

"Hey there." He said, and sat down next to her. He gently wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned into his touch, burying her face in the crook of his neck, "Shh, calm down Sharpay. It's alright, I'm here."

"I'm sorry…" she cried, and he could feel that the tears were starting to fall again, "I know I'm ruining everything. I'm sorry, Troy. I want… I want to be better, I don't want to ruin everything. But I just … I just want to be okay."

"It's gonna be okay." he promised her, and hugged her even tighter, "I will be there Sharpay. You're gonna remember again. I will help you, Sharpay. I'm here for you. Remember that."

She looked up at him and gave him a heart-warming smile, "Thanks Troy." She told him, "Thank you so much. You're the best."

And then she moved into his body again to feel the support he was giving. And he was just there for her. He had no idea if he would be able to keep his promises. But he was going to try. He wouldn't want to let her down again.

* * *

_We're so sorry about the delay, guys. Really, we couldn't be more sorry. We're going to try harder the next time; that's a promise._

_I (Stessa) hope I didn't offend anyone with the drinking part. I wrote that part. It was a part of the story from the very beginning, and I had no idea how to really freak her out, so I figured that would be a good and realistic way to do it. I mean, most teenagers drink once in awhile, so I hope you're okay with it._

_And I (Bethany) should be sorry, it was my fault again about the updating, I didn't start it when Stessa was in London, because I forgot about it and I've been really busy, so yeah. [: So I hope you guys accept my apology. Oh and I have a new story out called 'Fabulous', so would you guys be kind enough to check it out and review? I'll continue with it once I get a few more reviews. Thanks!_

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own HSM or any of the mentioned movies. _

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	8. Chapter Eight

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Eight**

**SURPRISE!**

The two blonde headed twins sat in the waiting room to see Sharpay's doctor. It was nothing serious, but the doctor just wanted to check up to see that things were all peachy keen. It was most likely that they were because Sharpay had progressed a lot since the accident had happened. There had been no more memory lapses and she had been informed of everything that had happened in the past, making her what she was now, even though that wasn't the Sharpay Ryan knew and loved.

The waiting room for the doctor was quiet and almost no one was talking, there were a few occasional murmurs but not much chatting. You could also hear the receptionist on the phone very clearly talking to patients who needed to make appointments. It was that quiet you could hear the buzzing of the light sitting right above Sharpay and Ryan.

The twins hadn't really talked to each other once they had arrived; they talked on the way there, but not much inside. They respected the doctor and his patients who wanted peace and quiet. Although Sharpay was some what of a talker, she remained quiet until they got into the hallway to enter it.

"Ryan I'm scared," she said, almost audible. Ryan rubbed her bare arm, comfortingly.

"It'll be fine, there's nothing wrong with you, so what could he say except that you've done well?" He showed her a small smile, which formed on his pink lips naturally.

"They could say I've done worse." She said, but Ryan just shook his head.

"You're so much better now, you know practically almost everything!" Sharpay smiled, and they entered the doctors room.

The room was lightly tinted with cream paint on the walls, making it look bigger than it originally was. It smelt like a can of fresh paint, like the walls had just been painted, but you could tell it was just a smell that lingered in the air a lot. There were three chairs, a desk, a computer and a couple of books on shelves planted around the room. Even though the room wasn't that small, and there weren't many things in it, Sharpay felt claustrophobic, like she was standing in a crowd of four hundred people, but she wasn't, she was in a doctors' room, with three people instead of four hundred.

They stood there in front of the doctor feeling out of place, and awkward. Ryan took Sharpay's hand, making her feel more comfortable with herself. She smiled, and looked at the doctor.

"Hi Sharpay, take a seat." The siblings both took a seat on the red foam chairs, Sharpay nearest to the doctor and Ryan next to her but furthest away.

"So how are things holding up?" The doctor looked straight to Sharpay to answer, but she looked to Ryan for help.

"She's been fi-…"

"I believe I asked Sharpay."

"Uhm…" Sharpay felt so uncomfortable and not confident at all. But this was the doctor's idea; he wasn't just snapping at Ryan for no reason, he wanted Sharpay to answer, to build up her confidence. He wanted to get through to her that it was okay to talk to people confidently even if you didn't know them properly.

"I-I guess I'm doing fine?" She said, questioning herself. "People are nice to me, I guess and-and well, yeah. I've learned a lot from my past." Sharpay perked up. "Did you know that me and Ryan got to do all of the musicals, like we wanted to?" The doctor smiled, and just listened. "Yeah, we did. Well, except for one, but we let Gabriella and Troysie get the leads, right Ry?" She turned to him.

"H-Huh?" He asked, off into a world of his own.

"Didn't we let Gabriella and Troysie get the lead roles before?" Ryan nodded.

"O-Oh yeah, yeah. We did." He replied, not really paying attention.

"Gabriella's so pretty, you know?" She smiled, thinking of her best friend. She loved her so much, but not in a lesbian type way, just as a friend, Sharpay knew that. Gabriella was so nice to her, even though she didn't have kindergarten and everything with her and they'd just met, she thought that they were best friends because they'd become so close! But what Sharpay didn't know that this relationship was all set up for their plan to work. The gang needed Sharpay to look up to someone nice, and understanding to learn from and then, she would become nice, kind, and hopefully smart too.

"She's been the nicest to me, out of the whole gang. She's my bestest friend ever, and I don't ever want that to change, it's so cool having a best friend. Although I have Ryan, I do need a girl best friend to talk about girl stuff." Sharpay looked at the doctor as if he didn't know about girls. "When they have their period." She said in hushed tone to the doctor.

The doctor just smiled and nodded his head; he was amazed at the progress she had made. She wasn't talking in her baby voice anymore and she looked a lot older as well. She had started wearing more different types of clothes than just wearing jeans and a top all of the time.

"Sharpay?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to wait outside for a minute while I talk to your brother in private?" Sharpay shrugged and walked out of the room, leaving the two males inside. Ryan looked towards Sharpay's doctor who was now smiling like a little boy who had just gotten his first puppy.

"She's made amazing progress," he stated, smiling to himself.

"Yeah, I know." Ryan said, agreeing with the doctor. "She's such a different person now to when she had the accident, it's almost like she's changed overnight… well she kinda has." He let out a chuckle, "I'm glad to be seeing more of my sister in her now. Would you like us to do anything else for her?" The doctor nodded.

"Yes, you could keep jogging her memory, reminding her of everything that happened in the past that you haven't told her already, think about birthdays, family get togethers, anything that will make her remember more things and make her into what she was before the accident."

"Okay. Thank you for your help."

"It's no bother Ryan, look after your sister." He nodded and the two shook hands, then Ryan left and took Sharpay home, getting ready for the surprise that was to come for her.

--

"SURPRISE!" The friends shouted out to Sharpay as she walked in the door. Sharpay stopped in the doorway, a look of shock on her face.

The hall was filled with 'Congratulations!' banners and balloons all over the place, the walls were decorated with multicoloured streamers and the whole gang were holding presents.

"Oh my GOSH!" She shouted, giggling and jumping up and down. "You guys are the best! What are all these presents for?" She said, gormless to what was happening. Gabriella jumped out of the crowd.

"They're for you silly! Because of the progress you've made! We're all so proud of you." She smiled, a proud look on her face showed Sharpay that they were all sincere about this.

"Oh my god!" She jumped and hugged Gabriella. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Okay okay, calm down girl." Taylor said, laughing.

"It's no bother, we all like you now." Chad said as Taylor elbowed him in the stomach. Fortunately, Sharpay didn't notice the now bit, and that made everyone even more happy.

"Yeah, we do." Troy smiled. He smiled his famous Hollywood smile at her, the one all the girls hoped to get from him. The smile that meant that he liked and loved everything about her, but of course… Sharpay didn't know about this smile, so how would she know that he liked her? God knows.

"Can I open presents now?" Sharpay bit her lip, she knew this was rude, but she loved presents and she wanted to open them right away.

"Sure you can, sweetie." Gabriella said and Sharpay rushed over to everyone who had put their presents on the floor. First, she opened Gabriella's.

She ripped open the packaging, to find more packaging, and more, and more until she came to the actual present. It was a friendship bracelet that Gabriella had made herself; it said 'Sharpay & Gabriella BFF.' Sharpay looked at it carefully.

"What does BFF stand for?"

"Be-…"

"Best Friends Forever." Jason cut in. Everyone looked at him. "Hey, I know some weird stuff, okay?" They all shrugged and returned to watching Sharpay open presents.

She got lots of other presents, including a watch from Taylor, a basketball from Chad (no surprise there) and some cakes from Zeke. She stood up and looked at everyone, asking if that was all of the presents gone.

"No." Troy said, appearing from behind the crowd, he stepped in front of it and handed her a box. "There you go, hope you like it, Shar."

"Thanks Troy." She looked at the box, and slowly unravelled the paper off of it. Her eyes grew wide when she saw it, it was the most perfect thing anyone could give to someone for a present. She took it out of the box, it glittering in the light of outside.

"It's-It's beautiful." She said, showing everyone the silver necklace with a heart hanging on the end of it, a diamond directly placed in the center. She placed it around her neck and clipped it together, not seeing the inscription on the back of the heart that Troy had put on it for her.

"You're welcome," he said, sighing as she didn't look at the back. "_Someday she'll notice Troy, someday._" He thought to himself, as everyone circled around her and gawped at the necklace.

"That's so pretty, Sharpay." Gabriella said, but she silently wondered why she hadn't gotten a necklace like that from Troy. Would that have been too much to ask or something?

Sharpay had a huge smile on her lips. She was glad that Gabriella liked the necklace; if her best friend hadn't liked it, then it would have put a damper on her mood. "I'm gonna… I'm gonna go upstairs for a few seconds, okay?" she told them. She had to have a few moments for herself. This was all too overwhelming. Being at the Doctor's office and now this surprise party. She had to let herself calm down.

"Sure, go on upstairs, Shar." Ryan said, and gently nudged her out of the room. He wanted to get her out of there for awhile, because he needed a few minutes with the guys. He had to tell them about what happened with Sharpay at the Doctor's office. She'd said some pretty weird things, and he was wondering if they had anything to do with it.

Sharpay shot him one last smile before she happily bounced up the stairs, and he turned around to look at his friends, "I need to talk to you guys." He lowly told them, so all the people not involved wouldn't hear him, "Come on with me." he continued and nodded his head to the side, towards the kitchen.

They all followed him into the kitchen, where he shut the door close. They were confused, and when he turned to them, looking all serious, they got even more confused.

"What's up, Ryan?" Kelsi asked, her eyes shining through her round glasses.

Ryan searched for the right words for a few seconds, before he decided on what to say, "I uh… I went with Sharpay today, to her Doctor's appointment, you guys know that, of course." He paused, "But something weird happened… The Doctor was asking her all these questions, and she just started talking about all the stuff she had started to remember… But for some _odd_ reason… It didn't really fit with what actually went on."

Taylor tried to glance to the side in worry, without Ryan noticing, but he had eyes for everything right this moment. He saw how Gabriella crumpled beneath his stare, and how Kelsi nervously fiddled with her thumbs. He saw how Chad swallowed loudly and how Troy seemed to find the ceiling incredibly interesting oh so suddenly.

"Is there something you guys are not telling me?" Ryan said, voice fast. He wasn't usually a scary person with a firm voice, but right this moment, they all knew they shouldn't lie to him. He'd just get even madder, and that definitely wouldn't be good.

"Ryan…" Gabriella softly begun, as she took a step closer to him, and reached out for his arm, "Don – don't get mad at us… please."

"What have you done?" he asked her, eyes searching hers for answers. But he only found regret and a gazillion 'I'm sorrys' floating through them.

"We… we sorta figured we wanted to uhm… how do I put this?" she questioned herself as she bit her lip, "To yeah, _change_ Sharpay a bit."

"What do you mean by change?" Ryan demanded to know. He didn't like where this was going. Not at all.

Taylor stepped up, and butted in, "We fixed her past a bit Ryan. No offence, but she wasn't the _nicest_ person around. We decided that if we made her out like a good person, she might be a good person when she came back to normal, and then we could all be friends, and she wouldn't treat us like crap."

"YOU WHAT!?" Ryan exclaimed, fury streaming trough him. Never had he been so angry. This was it! They just couldn't have changed his sister's life, they just couldn't! What kind of people did that?! How could they even look themselves in the eye? How could they …

"We figured it'd be okay.." Chad tried to say, but Ryan cut him off;

"Okay?! How can this frigging be okay!?" Ryan yelled, but when he realized Sharpay was upstairs, and people were in the room next to them, he lowered his voice, "You changed my sister? I loved her the way she was! And I honestly thought you did too. How could you do this? The Doctor said that she'll only get back to normal when she remembers! How can she remember things that didn't happen?! You've possible screwed everything up by this!" he wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand and turned to Troy, "And you – I really thought you liked my sister too."

Troy bit his lip, "I liked the old Sharpay. She was the girl I had a crush on. The girl I kissed that Halloween. And you know? After we told her these 'lies' she has been getting more and more like that. Don't you dare say we don't want what's best for her, because I do! And I'm sure everybody else does as well, but we just… We really thought this through; we planned her past. We told her she and you offered the parts as Minnie and Arnold to me and Gab. It's not much of a change, Ryan, when you really think about it."

"But what if she never remembers? What if she doesn't get back to normal?" Ryan lowly asked. He was warming up to the idea. Sure, he hadn't let them start this had he known, but when it already had begun, maybe it wasn't so bad? Sure, he'd miss his old Sharpay… But maybe this really was best for her? She's get more friends, that's for sure.

"That's the point, dude." Chad said, trying to sound as sorry as he could, "We didn't want her to be like the old Sharpay. That's a person we didn't like, but this Sharpay – man, she's great. We all love her. And it's because of this, Ryan. We did this. We'll just… fill her in on a few more things and hope that she never remembers the real events. But I don't think she will, she'll be too caught up in being the Sharpay we once knew and loved when we were younger."

Ryan turned to Taylor, questions shooting through his eyes. She was so smart, she had to know what was best, "Do you really think this is a good idea, Tay? Don't you think it'll backfire in the end.."

Taylor swallowed hard and shrugged, "I came up with it." she admitted, and then offered him a smile, "I've thought it through Ryan, I think this'll work."

Ryan just nodded, still not totally convinced. So much could go wrong. And he would miss the real Sharpay. No matter what they said, she had been a wonderful, vulnerable sister to him. And he loved her like that.

"So what do you say, Ryan?" Kelsi softly questioned.

Ryan swallowed hard, and made his decision, "I might as well give this a chance." He said, and nodded to them all, "I'm in alright, but if I regret this, I'm telling her _everything_." He said, to make it clear.

They all nodded, happy that he had decided to go along for now.

--

"SHARPAY!?"

Sharpay jumped out of her chair and knocked her Barbie over. She stopped to bend down at pick it up, seriously contemplating whether or not she should bring it with her to school again. She shook her head to herself and turned to look at her face in the mirror.

She felt like she had grown a bit. She felt like she was acting more older-ish, so maybe Barbie would be alright at home. She smiled to herself through the mirror and grabbed her book bag, before hurrying down the stairs to meet up with Ryan, who was getting impatient.

"I'm here, big bro!" she said, and gave him a brief hug.

Ryan couldn't help but smile, "You look happy today." He said, as they went out of the door, and into their father's car. She got in on the passenger's seat, and he started up the car.

They chatted about everything and nothing as they drove to school, and Ryan couldn't help but notice just how much Sharpay had been smiling since her Doctor's appointment. She was wearing the necklace Troy had gotten her, and Ryan frowned, hoping this didn't meant what he thought it meant. It wouldn't be good if Sharpay started to fall for Troy again… First off, there was Gabriella, but second off… they were on two completely different stages!

They parked the car and hurried inside, ready to meet up with their friends. They made a stop by both their lockers to grab a few things, before they went into their homeroom, where everyone else was chatting, sitting around on chairs and table. Chad was playing something off of his cell phone.

"'Morning!" Sharpay sang and happily threw her pink bag on the table, before giving everyone a hug, ending next to Troy, and – to Ryan's dismay – awfully close, "How are we all doing on this sunny day?"

"Uhm, we're doing… good." Taylor said, clearly confused. She knew Sharpay had changed, but this was awfully cheery and happy. Even for the new her.

"That's great!" Sharpay said, and the smile really did reach all the way into her brown chocolate eyes, "I wouldn't want any of my gals or guys to be sad!" she paused again, "Y'know, I feel like singing!?"

"Oh please don't." Chad remarked.

"Silly Chad, I have a lovely voice!" Sharpay said, before she started humming something none of them knew.

Kelsi decided to butt in now, before she got too far into the song, "Say uhm, Sharpay?" she questioned, and the blonde princess stopped humming, "…where's Barbie?"

Sharpay let out a short laugh, "Psh," she said, and almost rolled her eyes at Kelsi, "I don't play with Barbie anymore. I'm a big girl." and with those words, she quickly jumped off of the table, and turned to find her own seat.

Gabriella and locked eyes with Ryan. They might have changed a few things in her past, but this outcome was great. And wasn't she growing up? Before they knew it, she would be wearing make-up, high heels and be going on dates again.

* * *

_We know we've been terrible with updating this, but we really do try. And we're sorry for this short chapter. We do hope we got some important things out. Do you guys get that she's acting older in this chapter? We'll be dropping all those really childish things from former chapters, and be going in a more 'teenaged' direction. _

_**Disclaimer; **__We do not own High School Musical. _

_- Stessa and Bethany. _


	9. Chapter Nine

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Nine **

**Emergency, Dial 911!**

A couple of days after in school, Gabriella almost thought that the old Sharpay was back; everything was like it used to be. It looked like she had spent hours on her hair, her clothes was all pink and sparkly (filled with rhinestones!), she wore bright, pink high heels and a Gucci purse was thrown over her shoulder. Her make-up was done perfectly, and Gabriella almost couldn't believe that this was the Sharpay who had been dragging a Barbie doll with her everywhere just recently. It was such a transformation. Maybe the fake things they told her had started working and soon she'd be all grown-up again, just like her usual self, except the Ice Princess façade?

Gabriella hoped that this plan would turn out perfectly. So far it had gone good. Ryan had almost killed them when he found out, but on the other hand, he had given them a chance, hadn't he? He wanted to see if they could do what they had planned. They were all so grateful to him for that so she was determined to make this alright for Sharpay.

But it really was weird that she, within such a short amount of days, had started to act so much older. First the Barbie was gone, but now there was like… no more babyness; there was no more of what they had experienced; no peeing during class, no crying when she didn't get what she wanted, no more not understanding the teachers. She was just like all of them. Of course they knew she was still not their age yet – she needed a few years, and while those few years meant a lot at some points, they meant nothing at this point. Beautifying yourself and having an image meant everything, especially at that age.

It was even Sharpay's suggestion to go to the mall after school. Taylor had been pleasantly surprised by this and immediately said yes for both herself, Gabriella and Kelsi. That was why they were strolling through the mall now. Gabriella only had one bag from this shop where there had been a top she just couldn't resist to buy, Kelsi and Taylor had nothing, but Sharpay… Sharpay was loaded with bags. Apparently she believed she needed a new wardrobe. The former Sharpay had been this way too, but maybe this was something that just came with the name. Sharpay equals Shop, or something?

"Wow, look at that dress!" Sharpay exclaimed and stopped in front of a window to one of the shops she used to shop in all the time, "Isn't it amazing, guys?" she asked them, and turned her head to both sides, to give them all a quick glance.

"Sure," Kelsi mumbled and stuffed her hands into her pockets; she really didn't care much about this, "looks great from where I am standing."

"Me too." Taylor just agreed; she wasn't one for dresses either.

Sharpay frowned. She could feel their un-enthusiasm, so she turned to Gabriella and shot her a questionable look, "Gabriella, what about from where you're standing?"

Gabriella offered Sharpay a huge grin and nudged her in the side, "It looks awesome, Shar." She said. And she really meant it too. It was absolutely gorgeous and so out of her budget. But that didn't mean Sharpay couldn't buy it. She had more money than Gabriella would ever see, even with her parents getting divorced and everything.

Sharpay turned around again. She had a satisfied look in her eyes; like she had been looking for a dress for ages and finally found one. But really, it wasn't like that; she just saw it and thought it was amazing, "Maybe I should go try it on…" she said, but she didn't wait for an answer. She started to walk towards the doorway, but Gabriella reached out and grabbed her arm;

"Why don't you wait until later?" she hurriedly asked her friend. Sharpay shot her a confused look and Gabriella elaborated further, "I think Tay is getting hungry!" Gabriella quickly said, just so Sharpay wouldn't get impatient. The blonde then looked at Taylor, who tried to look like this story wasn't unfamiliar to her, "So why don't we get something to eat?" Gabriella finished.

Sharpay shrugged, "Fine," she said and tugged her arm out of Gabriella's grasp, "I could eat a muffin or something. Why don't we go to a café?"

"Fine by me." Taylor said, because she wasn't hungry at all – it wasn't like she needed real food or anything.

The four girls then made their way towards one of the cafés in the mall; Sharpay led the way and the other girls just let her. She would know, after getting more grown-up, where to get good coffee. At least Gabriella hoped she did because there was nothing she hated more in the world that bad coffee. It did look like Sharpay knew where to go because she led them straight to a café where they found a table near the window.

She happily placed her bags all around herself when she had taken a seat, "I dunno why," she begun and looked around the little place, "but I feel like I've been here a lot of times before. I knew exactly where to go." she paused and smiled at her three friends, "Is this like… our favourite café or something?"

Gabriella, Taylor and Kelsi shared a look, before the pianist offered Sharpay an insecure smile, "Sure…" she tried and the light was reflected in her glasses, "We're here all the time!"

Sharpay nodded happily and reached out for the menu, "I figured." She mumbled.

Taylor then leaned into Gabriella, "Does she go here a lot?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I honestly have no idea." She revealed and glanced at Sharpay. Maybe she did use to go here a lot with the Sharpettes or something. Gabriella then paused. It was weird, actually. They hadn't even heard much of the Sharpettes since all this happened. Gabriella suspected that Leah, Emma and Jackie were happy to get rid of their leader – maybe now they could do what they wanted to.

"You guys know what you want?" Sharpay questioned them, looking above the menu. She had thinking-lines across her forehead and seemed deeply into the different sorts of coffee, "I don't really want coffee…" she made a face, "I'm thinking that maybe I'm still a bit young for that. I'm gonna go with hot chocolate."

Kelsi moved slightly over so she could see the menu in Sharpay's hand too, "How much does it cost here?" she questioned, as she looked. If it was too much, of course she wouldn't be able to buy anything. Her family weren't exactly the richest people around.

Sharpay let the menu fall to the table and placed an arm around Kelsi, "No worries, Kels," she said with a giggle, "I'm just gonna pay; my treat." She pushed her chair back and stood up, grabbing her purse on the way, "Should I just get four hot chocolates?"

Taylor quickly nodded, not bothering to check with the others, "Sure, that's fine." She said.

Sharpay's face lit up even more, and Gabriella couldn't help but notice how happy she had been all day. It was so different from what they were used to from her. It was great to see her like this. It made Gabriella feel like they really did do the right thing by changing her past, "Great." The blonde said and turned around on her high heels.

When she was out of earshot Taylor sighed, "Wow…"

Gabriella nodded, "I know what you mean. This is sooo weird." She glanced to where the blonde was waiting in line, "She's like… a normal human being. Except nicer at times."

Kelsi bit her lip, her eyes studying the blonde too, "I don't know guys…" she mumbled and looked at her two friends, "I have such a bad feeling about this. I really feel like something is gonna go wrong…"

Taylor placed a hand on top of Kelsi's to give the smaller girl some reassurance, "Don't worry, Kels." She said, and turned her head to watch Sharpay, like the two other had done, "I think nothing can go wrong."

Kelsi nodded but she still didn't seem convinced, so Gabriella decided to change the subject. To do anything to make the other girl feel better. It was important that Kelsi (or anyone else for that matter) didn't get cold feet; it meant everything. If they had convinced Sharpay of this now, and then she suddenly found out what really happened, she'd get so confused and Gabriella was sure it wouldn't be pretty. They couldn't do that. It'd mess everything up even more than it was already, "Hey… So, did you see that necklace Troy gave Sharpay?"

"I know!" Taylor said and nodded her head wildly; she had been thinking a lot about that. Why on earth would Troy give Sharpay such an expensive present? Something that mostly boyfriends got for girlfriends and such?, "I couldn't believe he would give her something like that! Have _you_ gotten a necklace from him?"

Gabriella shook her head; this she had thought a lot about too. She had thought that Troy would get her a necklace and not Sharpay. She couldn't by any means figure out why he got her one. To congratulate her? Doubtfully. To show that they were friends? Would be a bit too much for friendship. To be nice? That one would probably be it. Troy was a nice guy, but Gabriella just didn't understand why he wasn't 'nice' to her. She wanted a necklace from her boyfriend, but he decided that someone else should have it instead? That hurt, it really did.

Kelsi smiled sadly, "Well… maybe he was just being nice to her. Who knows, maybe he feels bad about lying to her or something."

Gabriella nodded slowly and let that suggestion sink in. That could be it, actually. Troy wasn't one for lying, Gabriella knew that; she didn't like it herself either, but for this she had made an exception. Maybe he felt really guilty and buying her a necklace had been the only way to make himself feel better. "You know…" Gabriella trailed off and smiled warmly at Kelsi, "I think you're right. He feels bad about lying to her."

"Who's lying to whom?" Sharpay questioned just as she placed a tray with four cups on it, on their table. She sat down on her chair too and caught her three friends in the middle of a conversation she definitely shouldn't have heard.

Taylor's mouth moved up and down and she looked like some kind of fish for a minute, before she got it together to say something, "Eh… Chad!" she quickly covered up and nodded her head along to her lie, "He uhm… he lied toooo…" she searched for the right person and looked briefly at Kelsi who pointed towards her, so Taylor just said, "Me! Chad _lied_ to me."

Sharpay seemed deeply upset by that, "He did!?" she exclaimed, eyes wide and mouth agape, "About what?"

Gabriella chuckled inwardly; this was certainly different to see – Sharpay being concerned about someone other than herself. It felt good to know that they had a part in this. That it was their fault she was such a functional person, such a sweet human being.

Taylor seemed to be out of lies for now, so Kelsi took over from there, "They were fooling around in Taylor's bedroom." She quickly said and eyed Gabriella perplexedly. What the crap would she say now?, "And he like… wanted to go to second base."

"Oh my _GOD_!" Sharpay said and her hand flew to cover her mouth; this was a big deal for her. She wasn't quite in that state yet, and Gabriella found it very amusing; they should have said something else. Well, it was too late now.

Gabriella took over from there, "He said he wouldn't really do anything, but then he did." She quickly finished, which she knew was probably true. Knowing Chad, it was something he would do. Taylor seemed to blush a lot right this moment, but Gabriella decided to ignore that.

Sharpay made a face and screwed her eyes together for a short second, before she looked at Taylor again, "I'm so sorry, Tay!" she said and she had forgotten everything about her hot chocolate, as had the other three, "It wasn't too horrible, was it? What did he _do_!?"

Taylor got a sour look across her face and Gabriella bit back a chuckle. Of course Taylor had no idea what to say. Chad didn't really do anything she didn't want him to do. The whole situation was actually pretty funny. Sharpay's reactions to all the things were hilarious too. Taylor leaned in and whispered something in Kelsi's ear; Gabriella didn't know what it was, but she was pretty sure it was something that didn't have anything to do with Chad. The black beauty then pulled back and smiled at Sharpay, "I whispered it to Kels, 'cuz I don't wanna say it out loud – she'll whisper it to you."

Sharpay's brown eyes were round and curious as she moved closer to Kelsi, who looked completely taken aback by everything. Taylor had just thrown this onto her and now she had to figure something completely ridiculous, untrue and dirty out – Sharpay would have to be completely grossed out by it. So then Kelsi took in a deep breath and leaned closer to the blonde. Gabriella studied both their faces carefully. Kelsi looked bothered, but Sharpay's face seemed to grow more serious as she looked completely shocked. When Kelsi was done, Sharpay turned to Taylor;

"That is _SO_ gross, Taylor!" she said, voice high, "I can't believe you're still dating that boy! Why don't you break up with him!? Or are you scared? Do you want me to do it for _you_!?" she shook her head, blonde locks flying everywhere, "He is so disgusting."

Taylor nodded in agreement, "I know," she said and looked pretty serious, "I know Sharpay, but I really wanna give him another chance."

Before anyone could say anything else, Gabriella had butted into the conversation. She had to do something to take the heat off of Taylor, "What about you, Pay? Anyone special in your life?"

Sharpay blushed a deep red and shook her head again, "No!" she said and kicked Gabriella beneath the table, "There's no one."

Kelsi looked around the place for someone interesting and nudged Sharpay in the side. A little away, by the ice cream shop, was a guy around their age, getting ice cream with a younger boy, who was probably his little brother. "Check that cute guy out, why don't you go talk to him?" she questioned and eyed the other girl.

Sharpay turned around on her chair and her eyes searched the place too, until she realized who Kelsi was talking about. She could feel herself smile, "He _is_ cute!" she said, before she turned around to look at a friend, "Should I go talk to him?"

Gabriella nodded her head wildly. If Sharpay left for just a few minutes they could talk this through and laugh it off; she knew they all really needed that, "Sure! You're gorgeous, Pay. Go get yourself a date…" she wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Sharpay took in a deep breath and pushed her chair back, "You're right." She said and stood up. She adjusted her skirt a second before she screwed on her perfect smile, "I'll be right back, gals." She told them, before she turned around and left them there, her high heels clicking away on the floor.

The minute she was out of earshot (yet again!), Gabriella turned to the two other girls, "What did you _tell_ her!?" she desperately wanted to know. She really wondered what Kelsi had come up with.

Kelsi giggled lightly and shrugged her shoulders, "I just said Chad touched her boob." She simply replied before she reached for her cup of chocolate and took a long sip of it. They both looked at her like she was crazy, and she gave them a stare right back, "_**What**_!? I didn't have time to be _creative_." They still looked at her like she was crazy and she placed her cup on the table again, "Well, she seemed to think it was a big deal."

Taylor and Gabriella both laughed. That was just crazy. Of course that age difference between them did a lot in that area, but Sharpay had got to have been under-developed on that area when she was really that age, because none of them would have thought of it as such a huge thing when they were thirteen. But then again… how much boob had they had when they were still so young?

Taylor took a sip of her hot chocolate too and let her gaze wander to Sharpay again. Before she knew what had happened, her hot chocolate, which should have been in her mouth, was at the table, "Shit!" she exclaimed.

Gabriella and Kelsi both followed her look and Gabriella felt her eyes go wide by the scene she saw there; Sharpay was chatting happily away with the _younger_ boy. That wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to talk to the big-brother. Gabriella bit her lip. But of course she would go after the other one. He looked about thirteen.

"What do we do?" Kelsi quickly wanted to know.

Gabriella pushed her chair back and grabbed Sharpay's bags, "There's one thing we can do," she told her friends, who were quickly getting their things together too, while Kelsi hurriedly tried to drink the last of her hot chocolate without burning her tongue, "we get the hell outta here!" Gabriella finished, and then the three were off to rescue Sharpay, who now looked to have trouble with the older brother, who, _of course_, didn't want such an old girl to make a pass on his brother.

Gabriella heard her phone beep as they rushed to get Sharpay. Taylor tugged the blonde away, while Kelsi apologized a gazillion times to the brother and the little boy, while Gabriella got her phone out of her pocket and found a message from Troy.

_Can u step by? I need 2 talk 2 u about sumthin important. T. _

--

Troy couldn't explain how it happened if someone asked him to. It just did. One minute he was happy and in love with Gabriella and the next he was falling for Sharpay all over again. He guessed he could sort of blame it on himself since he went along with this and helped to change her past; it was what made her so sweet. And she was still drop-dead gorgeous like she had always been. And then with the sweet personality too – she was so irresistible.

He had even bought a necklace for her. He saw how hurt Gabriella had looked, but he hadn't been able to help himself. He even got an inscription for her. He wanted her to know how he felt, but since he was so bad at such things, he had written something sweet on the back of it instead. He wanted to be with her, but she was still so confused about everything (even if she had been better this week: that made him _very_ happy!), and he had Gabriella. Well… soon he wouldn't anymore.

The important thing he needed to talk to her about was a break-up. He couldn't lie to her anymore; he couldn't pretend, he _wouldn't_ pretend. It wasn't fair to her when he liked Sharpay that much. He wasn't sure what he would do once he was single again, but he would have to think about it. But first there was Gabriella to deal with and she could be there any minute now. He just hoped she wouldn't be too crushed. He couldn't stand it if she hated him forever. He wanted to be friends, at least. For the sake of them and for the sake of their friends. She was still important to him, he just didn't feel romantic feelings for her anymore.

He looked up when he heard the doorbell go. It was her. He took in a deep breath; it was now. He had to go break up with her. It was the best, it really was. Troy jumped out of the couch and went into the hallway, he opened the door and found the cute Latina standing there with a smile on her face.

"Sorry I'm a bit late." She said and kissed his cheek as she entered the house, "There was a mayor Sharpay-emergency at the mall." He closed the door behind her and she went into the living room; he followed her, "It was kind of cute, you should have been there."

They took a seat on the couch and Troy nodded, "Sure, I'm sure it was great."

Gabriella sensed that he wasn't all the enthusiastic about this and placed her purse next to her with a concerned look, "Is there something wrong?" she wanted to know, "What did you need to talk to me about?"

Troy wasn't sure how he was supposed to do this since he had never broken up with anyone before, so he would just jump right into it with both feet, "Gabriella, I-" he begun, but her face cut him off.

"Oh no." she swallowed, and he figured she might have seen too many teenage movies to know what this meant; she looked like she did, "I know what this means, Troy." She gave him a sad look, her eyes were already huge and on the verge of tears, "Why are you breaking up with me?"

Troy sighed heavily and gave her a true 'I'm sorry'-look; he really was sorry, because he did care about her, "I care about you Gabriella, but I think I might…" he gave her an insecure look, "have feelings for someone else now."

She let the news sink in and nodded sadly. She sat in silence for some time, stared into her lap. Troy didn't know what to say. He didn't want to try to make her feel better since this was all his fault, and he knew that she probably really didn't want to listen to him right now. When she looked up again, she had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I really want to be friends with you." Troy offered with a charming smile; he really hoped she would agree to this.

She gave him an angry look, clearly not satisfied with what he had to say, "How can you even think that I want to be friends with you?" she shrieked and stood up, grabbing her purse on the way, "You tell me you have feelings for someone else. How do you expect me to be okay with that!?" she shook her head at him, "Who is she anyway? Have you been with her? Have you cheated?"

"No!" Troy quickly said and this time he couldn't believe her; he would never cheat, not in a million years. That was why he broke up with her now anyway, since he was worried that it would happen sometime if he wasn't careful, "I would never do that to you, Gabriella. I respect you too much to do that."

"Hm, aha." She just said and held on tightly to her purse, "Well you know what Troy?" she questioned and he shrugged his shoulders; he had no idea what she wanted to say now. She really did confuse him a lot, "I don't wanna see you right now, so I'm just gonna go spend time with my girls. Maybe Sharpay can throw a sleepover or something. It's a boyfriend-_emergency_!"

And with that she stormed off. Troy was left, feeling extremely confused. What the hell just happened? He had thought that he would have to comfort her and reassure her that their friendship was important. He had been certain that he would get the last word in this conversation, but she just left him extremely baffled.

It was probably a good thing that he wasn't with her anymore.

--

"And-and then he just…" Gabriella sniffed and hugged a pillow close. Taylor put an arm around her while Kelsi and Sharpay just listened closely to what the Latina had to say, "He said he has feeling for someone else!" Gabriella finished off.

Kelsi got a concerned look across her face as she reached out to awkwardly pat Gabriella on the hand, "I'm really sorry, Gabby…" she whispered.

Sharpay couldn't believe this. Troy honestly seemed like a great guy. A guy who would definitely not do this sort of thing; a guy who treasured his girlfriend and would forever love her. Her memories of him were nothing but sweet. He had never hurt anyone as far as she remembered, "I can't believe him Gabriella." She said to her friend in a soft voice, "But maybe you should see the positive side of things. At least you're not with him anymore. If he falls for a lot of other girls then he's really not worth it, you know?"

Taylor agreed, "She's totally right, Gabriella." She said and hugged her friend close to her, "Let's forget all about stupid Troy Bolton tonight. Once you've downed the news, we can talk about it more." She looked at Sharpay and Kelsi briefly, before she went back to Gabriella, "But let's watch movies and eat ice cream for now."

Gabriella just sniffed in reply.

Sharpay then butted in, "I've got Ben and Jerry's!" she said; she knew they had a freezer full of it for some reason. She had discovered the other day. She didn't recall them eating a lot of that, but she knew that the Sharpay she couldn't remember had been going through some problems with her parents, so maybe she had often felt the need to eat ice cream for comfort with her girlfriends.

This seemed to really win Gabriella over, "I guess I could really eat some cookie dough…" she trialed off and wiped her eyes with the end of her sleeve.

"I know for _a fact_ that we have cookie dough!" Sharpay said and jumped out of her seat on the couch, "Why don't Kels and I go loooooad our arms with ice cream and spoons and bowls and cookies while you and Tay go find the perfect movie to cheer you up?" she arched an eyebrow suggestively, "What do ya' say, Gab? We're here to cheer you up."

Gabriella couldn't help but chuckle lightly, "That sounds great Sharpay." She nodded her head warmly, "Thank you, you're such a great friend." She then added, with a jokingly nudge from Taylor, "So are you two also."

Kelsi laughed and stood up as well, "Don't worry about it." She said, before she grabbed Sharpay by the arm and pulled her out of the TV room and towards the kitchen, "I hope you do have ice cream." She mumbled, when they were out of there.

Sharpay wriggled her eyebrows, "I do so have ice cream!" she said, and the second they stepped into the kitchen she had opened the freezer and was pulling out can after can of Ben and Jerry's. She stopped and turned to look at a stunned Kelsi, "There's spoons in that drawer," she said, and pointed with her head towards one, "Aaaand… bowls in that cupboard!" she continued and reached a foot out to hit one of the cupboards by the floor.

"Do you have cookies too?" Kelsi asked her as she immediately went to find four spoons.

"We don't do no cookies." Sharpay said and smacked the freezer close when she had placed around fifteen cans on the table next to it, "Our chef made some yesterday, they're in this cupboard." She reached out and opened one of the higher cupboards, only to pull out a huge box of cookies. She then placed them next to the ice cream and looked confused for a second, "You think we've got enough here?"

Kelsi turned around and opened her eyes in surprise, "Whoa!" she said and then chuckled heartedly, "I think we've got more than enough, Shar." She finished and then found the bowls, as Sharpay started placing everything on two trays so they could carry it upstairs. She had to arrange some of the cans on top of each other on there, but she was sure she could carry it into the TV room.

Kelsi reached out for one of the trays and slowly lifted it, "Ready to go?" she asked Sharpay, who struggled to get one of the overfilled trays to be steady in her hands.

Sharpay nodded slowly and the two of them made their way carefully into the TV room. It went really slow since they didn't want to drop anything, but they eventually got in there. Gabriella and Taylor were seated on the loveseat together really close since Gabriella really needed comfort still and the start of what Sharpay believed was 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' rolled across the screen. She had seen it with Ryan recently. They had a whole load of DVDs on their shelf that she couldn't remember having watched and it was great to watch them like it was the first time.

"You seriously think we're gonna eat all that?" Taylor asked them with a serious glare. There was a lot of cans on those trays!

Sharpay placed her tray onto the table and stood up with a grin on her face, "We eat as much as we can," she replied as Kelsi placed her tray onto the table too, "we won't get fat, 'cuz we'll just jog together tomorrow. It's Sunday after all."

"I love it!" Gabriella said and immediately reached out for a bowl to get some cookie dough. This was exactly what she needed. Her friends, good movies and ice cream. Troy could just go fuck himself somewhere; her friends would never let her down, she knew that for sure. And she couldn't help but realize that Sharpay was actually the one to help her the most. This Sharpay was really someone she could get used to.

Kelsi threw herself onto the floor where a beanbag chair was seated and she reached out for a bowl as well, "I love it too!" she smirked and picked a can out to see if it was anything she liked.

"Well, you would, wouldn't you?" Taylor asked and picked out a cookie instead, "You never gain any weight."

Sharpay laughed happily and settled herself in the comfy chair, "Remember girls, we don't have to eat everything. I just gave us something to choose from." She told them and reached out for a bowl as well, just as the story really begun on the plasma TV screen, "I can't even eat a can alone!"

Gabriella giggled happily and stuck her tongue out at Sharpay, before she locked eyes with her and mouthed 'thank you'. Sharpay offered a smile in return before she settled back in her chair and turned her attention fully towards Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey and whatever would happen with them…

When that movie plus 'Mean Girls' (Sharpay had been very excited to see this for this first time!), were over, Sharpay really had to go to the bathroom. She always felt the need to pee when watching movies so she placed her bowl with melted ice cream on the floor and stood up, "I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick guys." She said, and motioned towards the door; she'd go all the way upstairs to use her own. She didn't know why, but she felt more comfortable in there, "You can pick out a movie while okay?"

Gabriella nodded happily while Kelsi gave her thumb-up and Taylor mumbled, "Sure, go on girl."

Sharpay left the room and turned left in the hallway to get to the staircase. She felt really happy when she spent time with those girls. She was glad to know she had such good friends; friends that would help her with everything even when she lost some of her memory. It just bothered her that she couldn't remember everything the four of them had done together. They must have all these wonderful memories of her and each other and she just didn't know any of it. It was really annoying to think about.

She went into her room and crossed it to get to the bathroom. She leaned herself against the sink for a few seconds and studied herself in the mirror. It was still so weird for her. Of course she had gotten used to it by now, but the last thing she remembered was being so little. She was just all grown-up now. When truth came to it… she really didn't remember anything; she just liked the others to think that she did. She acted older to pretend that she did. She found it so weird though. She was supposed to have made progress by now, but she had nothing to show of these past weeks. It was maddening to think about. What if she never remembered again? Would she miss those five years for the rest of her life then?

She put some water in her face, knowing it wouldn't mess up her waterproof mascara and then turned to the toilet to do her thing. She really had enjoyed this day so far. Of course there was the minor stupid detail about her hitting on a younger boy at the mall. She had honestly thought Kelsi had meant him, though! Seriously. But of course now, when she thought back, she could see it, and felt embarrassed for doing what she did. She should really take care about her actions more often. She wouldn't always have Gabriella, Kelsi and Taylor there to save her. Sometime she'd have to be on her own… but hopefully either her memory would have come back by then, or she would have experienced this age for so long that she didn't feel wrong about anything.

When she was done she washed her hands and carefully made her way down the stairs again. She didn't want to disturb them if they had already started the movie, so she took it slowly. It was also nice to be alone for just a second. She turned right in the hallway and made a dash for the door to the TV room, she paused though, when she heard her name being mentioned in there;

"…Sharpay was so mean before."

It was Kelsi. But mean? When had she ever been mean?

"I know what you mean." Taylor seemed to agree in a slow voice, "Look at all this she just did for Gab. The other Sharpay would never have done that. She would have driven straight to Troy's house to win him over two seconds after their break-up."

Sharpay felt her brows move down in confusion. What were they talking about? The 'other' Sharpay? Was there another Sharpay. The blonde could feel her insides freeze and Goosebumps raise on her skin. Something felt awfully wrong about this. First off, she didn't like to listen in on other people's conversations, and second off… there was something wrong with this situation and the conversation they were having.

Gabriella laughed behind the door, "I know!" she said, "But then it's good that we did this. I honestly feel bad about lying to her, but I think we really did her a favor…"

Sharpay softly stepped away from the door. Had they lied to her? When had they _lied _to her? Friends didn't lie to each other no matter what; they always told the truth. She always told them the truth. How could they lie to her? But what _about_? She swallowed loudly and took a few steps further back. It was probably nothing. Maybe she had misunderstood the situation completely. She didn't know what they were talking about before she came, so she could easily have misunderstood everything. She should just walk in and pretend she hadn't heard a thing.

She made a big deal of banging her feet into the floor as she went for the door again. She knew they would hear her coming so she opened the door like no big deal and threw herself into her chair, "Found a movie, guys?" she questioned them, even if there was a lump in her throat and she didn't feel too good about this.

Kelsi held up 'Freaky Friday', "I think you're gonna like this." She said, as the light from the TV screen reflected in her glasses.

Sharpay nodded, "I think I'm gonna like it too." She said, and looked deeply into the pianist's eyes. She looked so normal, Kelsi. She couldn't have lied to her, could she? She trusted the girl who often wore a hat, and she shouldn't doubt her. Everything was good, Sharpay decided.

"Hey," Taylor said and turned to her, just as she hit play on the remote, "what took you so long, girl?"

Sharpay offered her an insecure smile, "I had to go real bad." She just mumbled, before she turned back to the movie.

* * *

_Hello everyone ;b do you even remember this story? I feel so completely bad about not updating this. I feel like an idiot towards you guys because you've always been so great reviewers. I know Bethany feels bad about this too, I'm certain. Honestly, we knew what would happen in this, but then one of us was supposed to start the chapter, and then stuff happened and no one did, and suddenly what we had planned on writing, was gone, and then I haven't spoken to Bethany in what feels like forever._

_Actually, she hasn't even written on this chapter, it's just me, since I can't get a hold of her. I wrote her an email to tell her that I decided to write this for you guys, because I felt so bad, so I hope she won't kill me for doing this without her. If she wants something changed once she finds out and reads this chapter, we'll change it and repost it. I just hope this is good enough, and I hope she will help me write the finishing chapters for this. _

_And I hope this chapter was good enough for you all. We both thank you for the reviews (I know Bethany would thank you a gazillion times too ;p), and I'm gonna ask nicely from the both of us for you to review again. _

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own HSM or any of the in chapter-mentioned movies. _

_- Stessa_


	10. Chapter Ten

**Brain Drain **

**Chapter Ten**

**Ball Practice Gone Wrong**

Ryan was fretting; he was ready to pull his hair out. He was standing by Sharpay's locker, waiting for her to turn up. She had told him that she would meet him at school because she needed some more time to pick out her outfit. It had to be "Sharpay-ed" enough for her. He had every reason to be nervous; she could do something stupid, be late for school, or someone could mention her ice queen façade.

"Oh shit," he mumbled to himself. "Where is she?!" He had tried so hard not to spill the beans to Sharpay, but he couldn't hold it in, he really needed to tell her. He saw a glimpse of blonde hair and sprinted down the hall.

Breathing heavily he spluttered, "Sharpay!" She looked at him, weirdly, her eyes still sparkling with happiness.

"Uhm, Ryan. Are you okay? You look a bit… worn out."

"Look, I need to tell you something about the guys."

"Okay," she nodded, holding onto Ryan's arm and walking with him. They'd gotten much closer since the little accident. Sharpay hadn't been mean to him and he wasn't holding back to say something to her. He wasn't scared of her anymore, and that was an improvement for him. In some ways, this accident had been good, right?

"It… doesn't matter anymore, it's fine." He had changed his mind for the one-hundredth time today, he couldn't do that to her. He couldn't break her heart, even though she'd done it many times to himself, he couldn't do it to his sister. He loved her.

"Oh, okay." She flipped her hair back, and spun around. " So, you like my outfit?" She giggled and clapped her hands.

"Yeah, I love it Shar, it looks… nice?"

"Thanks Ry! Okay. I'm gonna go catch up with the girls, okay?" He nodded and let her walk off, strutting along the hallway with her Chanel sunglasses planted perfectly upon her head. She saw the girls, they were standing next to Taylor's locker. She waved, but before she could walk over, Troy stepped in front of her.

"Hey Shar." He grinned and she nearly passed out. That boy's smile could make any girl faint.

"Hey Troyboy!" She smiled back; he let his eyes wander for a little walk down to her cleavage. She noticed the silence and added, "So, what's up?"

"H-Huh?" He looked back up to her face, "Oh, yeah." He looked to her neck, noticing the necklace that he'd bought her. "Hey! You're wearing the necklace!" His smile grew larger.

"Mhm," she said. "I love it, but… Troy, what does this mean?" She showed him the writing on the back. He raised an eyebrow.

"You have to work it out for yourself," he winked and walked away leaving her even more confused. She shook her head and walked over to the girls who were staring at her.

"Hey girlies!" She smiled; Taylor and Kelsi smiled back and returned her hello. Gabriella just stood there, looking at her, she wasn't glaring, but she wasn't looking at her in a good way either. "Gabriella? What's wrong?"

"What were you talking to Troy about?" She immediately answered.

"Uhm, he said… hi, and that he realised I had the necklace on he bought me. Then, I asked him what the writing meant on the back." Gabriella nodded, and looked to the floor.

Sharpay could understand her mood. They'd broken up and she'd really loved him, but she didn't have to be like that with her, did she? She wondered if something had happened with her after the sleepover, maybe he called her or maybe he didn't call her. Sharpay expected him to call and apologise, apparently not.

It was just so weird for her. She knew she didn't remember any of Troy and Gabriella's relationship before she hurt her head, but what she had seen for now – it was perfect. It was weird that Troy didn't think so anymore. It made her feel so sad that it could happen with just a snap of her fingers. Troy and Gabriella were all happy together and then suddenly they weren't. It confused her a lot.

She wanted the hurt Gabriella felt to go away. She wanted to make everything okay for her. She was her best friend, and she wanted her to be happy. Of course she was still very concerned about the things she overheard during their sleepover, because they were frightening. She couldn't quite get it to make sense, and that was why she tried not to think too much about it. It was weird that Kelsi had mentioned something about a mean Sharpay. She knew that she could be talking about somebody else, but what were the chances of her knowing another Sharpay? They were low, _this _Sharpay knew that.

And also the things they said about Troy. How the 'old' (this confused Sharpay too; what did they mean by 'old'?) Sharpay would have driven to his house to get him to go out with her, right after Gabriella and him broke up? Sharpay didn't know anyone who would do such things to their friends. It was other people feelings in the matter, and you don't just joke around with them. She really felt like she wanted to ask them what was up, but then again she didn't have the nerve. She'd have to think more about it, and it'd probably be a spur of the moment kind of thing if it did happen.

"What did it mean?" Taylor then wanted to know, referring to the inscription.

Sharpay shrugged, "He said I had to work that out myself." She replied, before she reached into her purse for her chapstick; her lips were kind of dry, she believed.

Kelsi raised an eyebrow, "Weird." She mumbled, before she turned back to look at Gabriella, a smile on her face, "Anyway, I think I remember which song you're referring to. It was… eh, it was the opening song, right? The one that Arnold and Minnie sang together?"

Gabriella nodded in reply and started to talk about something regarding the song and her and Troy, and Sharpay just listened closely while she made sure her lips stayed perfect. She got that the three were talking about something to do with the Twinkle Town musical last year, but she felt so stupid because she didn't know what it was.

She had been there, she had been a part of it, and her best friends had been the leads. She should be able to remember these kind of things, and she always felt like such a dumb blonde when something like this occurred; when something she didn't remember was brought up and she had to nod along and act perfectly fine. She hated it, and frankly she just wanted her life to get back to normal.

"Do you remember the skirt you wore?" Taylor then questioned and looked at Gabriella, "The little one with the polka dots. It was so unbelievable cute."

Gabriella smiled, "Yeah, but kind of different."

"That's what made it so cute!" Kelsi agreed, and Taylor nodded too; that had probably been her thought as well.

Sharpay then butted into the conversation. It was about a skirt, and she HAD to know what exactly it had looked like, "Hey… what colour was it?" she questioned, hoping her best friends would answer that simple question for her.

But Taylor just scrunched her nose up in an adorable way before she nudged Kelsi in the side, "Do you remember the hat you always used to wear back then?"

"Oh yeah!" Kelsi's face lit up in a huge smile which reached all the way into her eyes, "It was green, right?"

Gabriella shook her head, hair falling across her shoulders, "I don't think you can call that colour _green_, Kels." She mumbled, with a sneaky smile across her face, and Sharpay felt herself sigh loudly.

They didn't want to explain everything to her, and she sort of understood them. Why would they want to have to relive every detail just because she wasn't there? She ought to find someone else to hang out with for now. Maybe her girlfriends would be done with this conversation during lunch and she could talk to them about important stuff there. It was a pretty cool idea if she did say so herself (and duh, she like _did_, because apparently her friends wouldn't listen to her!).

She excused herself to her friends, but they didn't even notice that she stepped away. She felt really sad. It was these kind of things she wished she could just wipe away. Otherwise her life was pretty perfect in her opinion. She could feel herself smile when the bell rang, therefore she didn't have to deal with finding something to take her thoughts away from her previous life.

--

Sharpay had to admit that during lunch her girlfriends still weren't done talking about their (apparently) very cool high school past. It bothered her that they didn't notice how left-out she felt, but she figured they had their rights to reminisce at times. Therefore she had settled herself with Troy instead. Chad and the other guys had gone to play a round of baseball, but luckily for her Troy didn't want to participate in that. Which meant she had someone to share her lunch with.

And she could try to get Troy to tell her, what the inscription on the back of her necklace meant.

"Aw, please tell me, Troysie!" she begged him, using her best puppy-dog eyes, but apparently they didn't work on Troy. He seemed immune towards her tries, and it was kind of fun to have to work for it right now, even if it bothered her that she didn't know.

Troy shook his head as he chewed his sandwich, "No way." He firmly said, and locked eyes with her, "I won't tell you, Sharpay, you're just gonna have to wait. And _please_," he added, with a mischievous smile across his face, "can we talk about something else now?"

Sharpay nodded and searched her brain for something else to discuss with him, but as she kept thinking, nothing came up. She would just have to do something great to start up a conversation. Her eyes searched him quickly, just to think of something, _anything_!, and landed on his basketball jersey. She smiled to him as she said, "I really want to see you play a game soon." She said, with a glint in her eyes.

Troy smiled warmly at her, he looked happy to hear her say so, "Sure, that'd be awesome." He replied, as he took another bite of his sandwich and chewed before he continued, "Hey, we actually have a team practice after school. You could watch us if you want?"

Sharpay's face stiffened, she wasn't quite sure what to reply to that. She had an English assignment due in a few days and she had thought she would begin on it today after school. But really… she did want to watch him play.

"You could do homework meanwhile?" Troy quickly suggested, hope in his voice, "On the bleachers?"

Sharpay felt herself smile again. She didn't know what it was about Troy, but he managed to get her to do everything. She simply couldn't say no to him, because he was so cute. She remembered the crush she used to have on him. She still found him completely adorable, but she would never do anything to him when he was Gabriella's ex-boyfriend. It was one of the rules, and so that be it. She couldn't break a rule.

"Please?" Troy continued.

"Oh yeah," Sharpay gave in, and kicked him lightly beneath the table, "I'll just have to work on that assignment too. But yeah… I'd love to watch you at practice."

Troy couldn't hide his happy smile, "Great!" he said, "That's awesome…" he took another bite of his sandwich and Sharpay sipped her water. When he had chewed again, he then added, "Sooo… tough assignment, huh?"

--

Sharpay waited for her two best friends at her locker, like they did everyday after school. She was going to tell them she couldn't come because she was helping out with something after school. She didn't want Gabriella to get mad with her; she loved Gabriella like a sister and she really didn't want to hurt her feelings.

She stood there for ten minutes, waiting and waiting for them. They didn't show up, they didn't come, they'd left her. Sharpay looked down the halls, no one was coming. The place was deserted. She sighed and made her way down the halls to the gym. She really didn't understand why they hadn't met up with her. She'd have to ask them, they would have a good explanation; it would've been something urgent. They wouldn't have left her on purpose, would they?

"Nah, they wouldn't do that. They love me too much," she smiled and then realised she was talking to herself. She was glad that there was no one around, that would've been embarrassing.

The blonde walked into the gym, her stilettos click-clacking against the floor. She held her books close to her chest and walked up the stairs to the bleachers. She turned around, to see if Troy had came out while she had had her back to the court. He hadn't. She smiled and sat down, straightening her skirt out. She pulled her books, and a piece of paper out, resting it on her knee. She was really excited to watch Troy play, but she was nervous too. She didn't feel right, she felt like she was betraying Gabriella, going behind her back. But she wasn't really, was she? She was only watching Troy play a game, and by Troy she meant the whole team. She clicked her pen four or five times and bounced her knees up and down.

She looked down to the piece of paper and wrote her name in the top left hand corner. She didn't even understand the work she was supposed to be doing. It was about some stupid book or something; she hadn't even read the book. She began to write. She was concentrated so hard, that she didn't even notice Troy walk into the gym with Chad walking behind him.

"Yo dude, I heard you broke up with Gabriella. Why, man?" Chad put a comforting hand on Troy's shoulder, but Troy shrugged it off and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter," Chad looked up at the bleachers, passing him the ball.

"What's she doing here?" He pointed towards her and Troy looked up.

"She wanted to watch a game, so I told her she could come watch tonight while we practice." Chad nodded, he understood. It's not like Sharpay could remember them playing a game.

"Dude, I broke up with Gabriella because… I-I have feelings for someone else." He scratched the back of his neck, while balancing the basketball in one hand. "It's complicated."

"I bet it is, do I know her?" Troy nodded, reluctantly. "Wait. It's not Taylor, is it?"

"Noo, no." Chad let out a sigh of relief, "She's your woman, Chad."

"So, who is it?" Troy looked away. "Dude, you can tell me." Troy looked towards Sharpay and back to Chad, nodding.

"Her."

"SHARPAY?"

Sharpay looked up and realised they were on the court, she smiled sweetly to Troy and waved. Troy sent a flash of warning to Chad, and waved back to Sharpay, sending her a smile that could make any girl faint. Once Sharpay had looked back down, he thumped Chad on the arm.

"Dumbass."

"Dude, are you serious?! That's like… wrong!"

"I kno-… wait, what? _How_?"

"She has a mind of like … a ten year old."

"Not anymore!"

"Still, she doesn't remember anything. Her mind is fucked up, and so is yours apparently!" Troy bounced the ball and made a shot at the net.

"It's not that bad, is it?"

"Dude, it's bad. You just broke up with her best friend!" Troy frowned, "She can't go out with you, it's like the rules of women or whatever!"

"… And you know this, why?"

"Taylor made me watch Mean Girls," he mumbled.

"That explains it," He laughed and passed the ball to his afro friend. "But Chad, I really like her. I can't just ignore my feelings, I need to tell her."

"Then tell her, I'm not stopping you." Chad dribbled the ball. "Just be prepared to be slapped by Gabriella, she'll find out. She knows everything, and I mean everything. Except you liking the Ice Queen."

Chad walked back into the changing rooms, to pump up the boys. Troy practised his free-throws, while thinking about what he'd just told his best friend.

_Gabriella? I never thought of her feelings, and I never thought of Sharpay hating me because I'm going to tell her. Or ask her out, or whatever. I'm not even sure yet! Ugh, stupid me._ He looked up at her, her blonde locks covering her face as she leant down, writing. He smiled, she was so dedicated. _You need to sort yourself out Troy, talk to her. Go on._

He quickly glanced above his shoulder to make sure that the guys weren't out yet, before he let his ball fall to the ground, and heard it bounce and bounce as he made his way towards the blonde goddess. She was so absorbed in her work, she didn't even hear him, and only looked up when he sat down next to her on the bleachers.

"I thought you guys were going to play?" she wondered aloud and clicked her pen a few times, before she let it rest on the piece of paper she had been writing at before.

Troy smiled warmly at her; he loved the way she looked and the way she spoke. There was just something to enchanting about her. He knew it was wrong of him to fall for his girlfriend's friend, but he hadn't been able to help himself. That was why he had broken up with Gabriella in the first place – he didn't want it to be so tough. He just wanted Sharpay to be his. And he was going to get her. He remembered how they were almost a thing so many years ago, and now he wished he hadn't been so dumb. She was an amazing girl, and he wanted to be with her. It didn't matter that she couldn't really remember anything; she had to know of his feelings.

"Yeah…" Troy softly mumbled and got lost in the way her eyes twinkled and the way she looked in the faint light coming down on them, "Yeah, we were. I think Chad's talking to the boys. I'm not really a part of that…" he chuckled lamely, not knowing how to explain to her why he wasn't in there with them, discussing everything. Because he didn't have a good explanation. The only explanation he had, was that he wanted to be with her, but that would probably freak her out; sure, he wanted her to know, but he had got to take it slow.

He had to remind himself of that, though, because all he could think about was what it would be like to kiss her right that moment. Her lips looked so inviting and soft. They were all red and he bet her lipgloss tasted amazing. It was all sparkly, and she looked stunning. Gabriella never used to wear that stuff; not that it was a must or anything, it was just weird how different the two of them could be. Gabriella would never dress up just for school, but Sharpay always did.

"Well, that's cool, I guess." Sharpay replied and leaned slightly back, so she was resting against the bench behind her, "I think it's awesome… the concept of basketball, I mean." She held a slight pause, and Troy studied her every move, "I'll never get the rules of course, but I think it's great that so many people can care so much about something. Hello, the entire school worships the ground you players walk on!" she laughed, and Troy couldn't help but chuckle lamely along, because her laugh was stunning.

He shook his head though, "They do not!" he told her, a slight whine in his voice.

She gave him a stern look beneath those long eyelashes, "They do, Troy, just admit it." she looked away from him for a second, and stared oddly into space, "And it's great, I really think it is," she continued, but then softly added, "I just wish the drama club would have as many supporters. People don't like us… for some odd reason."

Troy nudged her softly in the side, "I just think you're misunderstood." He felt for her, he really did. She cared so much about drama and plays, and the school never even showed up for any productions before he and Gabriella joined the club, "They don't know how hard work it is. I didn't know either, but since I've tried, I totally respect you guys. It's tough – there are a lot of things to take care on."

Sharpay bit her lip, "There really is." She said, her voice was firm and he could tell that she really believed what she told him right that moment; she believed every word and she wanted to stand by it. She was so dedicated and determined… and he was so _attracted_ to her.

"Hey Troy?" she added, her voice now light and happy again; it was clear that their former, meaningful conversation was over, "Thank you for being best friends with me. Thank you for standing by me." she told him, and glanced right into his eyes. He felt so moved by her. Those brown orbs held so much emotion, and right now, everything that floated in there was aimed towards him. And it was all love and devotion.

He couldn't have felt more special.

He swallowed hard and rested a hand on her thigh, just to feel a bit closer to her, "You're welcome, Sharpay." He whispered. He was really close and doing something. Something he shouldn't do because he really wanted her, but he had to talk to her about it first – but the urge to kiss her was so strong, he almost couldn't hold back.

She giggled, "Give me a hug!?" she said, before she placed her arms around him and pulled him so close he couldn't possibly get much closer. He savoured every second of it; every sense, smell and touch. It was amazing to have her that close. He knew he wouldn't be able to describe it if someone asked him afterwards. There were no words for this feeling; it was too surreal and too amazing for him.

As she pulled back from him, the words just blurted out of his mouth, "I love you, Sharpay." He knew he should have prepared her for this, he knew he shouldn't have just let the words slip that way, but he couldn't help himself. When she was so close to him, she intoxicated him. He had never experienced anything like that before and it made his mind go wild. He'd do anything – _anything _– to have her. And he just had to let her know how he felt.

She smiled warmly at him, "Well, I love you too, Troysie." She replied, but he knew she didn't mean it in the same way as he did. To her they were friends; maybe because that was how she felt, or perhaps – and this was his hope speaking up – because she didn't have the courage to tell him how she really felt. But this was it. He was going to do it now.

"No." he firmly said and stared deeply into her eyes so he had her full attention, "No, Sharpay… I really love you." he could hear his own voice, he could listen to himself and tell that he was getting extremely emotional. But this was so new to him, he couldn't help himself. Perhaps he got carried along, but what's a boy to do? "I'm _in_ love with you…"

As the last words left his lips, he saw her face stiffen slightly. A confused look came in her eyes, and they moved from side to side; first searching his right eye, then searching his left. Eventually they settled down and she scooted away from him just an inch, "What?" she asked him.

He scooted right after on the bleachers, "I'm in love with you." he said, and felt himself swallow a lump that had formed in his throat, "That's why I broke up with Gabriella. Because I couldn't lie anymore, because I had to let you know how I felt."

"But Troy!" she argued and stood up from her seat; he followed right after so they were at the same eyelevel, "You can't love me like that!" she continued, shaking her head rapidly, "You're Gabriella's ex! I'd never do that to her! And…" she added, her voice going slightly softer, "I'm not ready for that kind of thing yet. I'm still not fully recovered and it might set me back, and I might…"

She didn't continue, she just stared at him helplessly. He didn't know what to say. He felt like his heart had broken just because she told him those things. But he wasn't about to give up on her; he wanted her, and he was going to get her. Even if he had to _show_ her how amazing they could be. He'd just have to prove it to her! That was it; he had to do it that way, if he really wanted her.

And he really did.

"Sharpay…" he softly said and took a step closer, slowly reaching out, testing the waters to see if she'd move, but she didn't. She let him place his hand on her shoulder, and he immediately felt like his wish was within his reach, "Sharpay, I really, really like you…"

She brushed his hand off again, and he had to admit; the angry look suited her rather well too, "No!" she said, voice harsh, "You can't like me, so forget it Troy. Gabriella's my best friend, and even if she hasn't treated me the best, I'd never do such thing to her, it's regarding her feelings, I know you have feelings too, and frankly so have I, but I'm _not_ getting into something like this, I'm not! Please, please, just understand, because I-"

Troy had cut her off. The angry look had really given him a new side of her, and whether or not she wanted it, he had decided to show her who he was, so he kissed her. He pressed him lips to her glossed one and gave the kiss everything he had. He hoped she might realized what a great catch he was, and that she should forget all about Gabriella's feelings, but none of that happened.

She was stiff as a board for about ten seconds, and then she started to struggle. She pushed and scratched, her long, manicured fingernails ripping his bare arms. She wasn't the strongest person, but she moved her head from side to side, mumbled against his lips, and eventually she had him pushed off.

"What are you doing!?" she screeched, her brown eyes full of hurt and anger. He hated to admit it, but he saw tears in there as well, "How could you do that to me Troy?" she asked him, voice getting soft and emotional again, "How can you just do something like that to me…? You're supposed to care."

He brushed his lips off with the back of his hand and gave her a perplexed look.

"I can't believe you!" she continued, her voice gaining strength again, as she seemed to gather herself together, "You're a jerk Troy! How can you do this to me, huh!? To Gabriella too!"

She seemed so angry, and right that moment Troy hated her for it. He hated her for thinking of herself and of Gabriella, but not thinking of him. Wasn't he important too? Didn't he mean anything to her?, "And what about me!?" he asked her, voice hurt and full of pain, "Maybe you haven't changed so much!" he added, his voice raising too, to match her previous one, "Maybe you _are _still an ice queen!"

She stared blankly at him, and he regretted the words they minute they left his lips. She didn't say anything; her look was confused and hurt, and she turned around on her heel, left all her stuff and ran out of the gymnasium.

_How could I be so stupid? _

* * *

_So yeeah. We hope you enjoyed this chapter much. We know it's not the best writing at all, but that's just how it's gonna be. Thank you for the reviews for last chapter. Please review us again? We'll update faster next time, we promise._

_- Stessa and Bethany._

_**Disclaimer; **We don't own HSM._


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Eleven **

**The Truth Will Out**

Ryan had been concerned about Sharpay pretty much all day, and he had thought about her a lot. He wasn't exactly sure what to do about all this; she was so happy now, how could he mess that up for her? But on the other hand… he didn't want to lie to her anymore. He wanted to come clear and tell her about it. The lies were suffocating him, and he couldn't handle it. It was horrible.

And it didn't make it any better that him, Kelsi and Gabriella had gotten together after school to do a project they had together, but that the conversation only in a matter of seconds had gone to the matter of Sharpay. It made him feel so stupid that they could do something like this to her. Kelsi and Gabriella shouldn't be able to either… they did care for her. In some way.

"…and really," Gabriella finished her tale off, looking directly at Kelsi, "I already knew Troy and I weren't going to be together forever, but there's something weird about this. Sharpay has something to do with it; I just know it."

Kelsi gave her a weird look, "I get that you're concerned, Gab, but I still don't see how that's possible. Sharpay's not even at that stage yet. She hasn't evolved that far." Kelsi drummed the top of her pencil onto her paper for a few seconds, "It's just not possible; she's not that experienced."

Ryan cringed. It sounded like they were talking about an experiment on something. It would have been cool enough had it been a robot, but it wasn't! It was his sister, his own flesh and blood, and she was human, and she had feelings. He wouldn't be able to handle this anymore. He'd have to talk to her, he'd… he'd have to tell her. Otherwise he'd lose his mind.

Gabriella bit her lip in thought, "Well maybe she has grown the last two years overnight, Kels." She suggested, a slight twinkle in her eye, "You'd never know, I mean… she _did_ lose the Barbie."

Kelsi sighed and leaned back in the chair. She threw her pencil on the table and rested her hands behind her head, "Sure… It could be a possibility, but I just don't think that's it…" she was deep in thought for a few seconds and Ryan just watched; hoping she'd somehow come to same realization as him; that they had to stop, "I'm just afraid she might never grow up for real if she doesn't have her real memories."

"Oh come on, Kels, of course she will!" Gabriella said, but she did look a bit worried.

Ryan just stared at her too. They had to stop this… they had to un-fix her, and therefore _fix_ her. To make the good girl go bad again. They had to; he couldn't lie to her forever.

"No…" Kelsi said, and leaned forward again, resting her elbows on her knees, "It's karma, Gab. It's the real thing, we… we're ruining something for someone else. She was meant to find someone perfect for her, she was meant to fall in love and someone was supposed to fall for her too. But now that we've changed her past… we might have changed her future too."

"Well of course we have!" Gabriella said, and stood up, dramatically throwing her arms into the air, "We already knew that would happen, Kelsi! We wanted a sweeter Sharpay; someone who'd be our friend! That's why we did this; don't act like you're so surprised!"

Ryan had to agree with Gabriella on that one; they'd known this would happen, but that didn't make it any less horrible. It was wrong that they did this, and it'd come back to bite them in the ass, he could feel that.

Kelsi stood up too, ready to fight Gabriella on her point of view, "Sure, Gabriella, we knew we'd change Sharpay's future and past… But we might have ruined something for someone else too." The small pianist argued back, her face was red, and a run-away curl bounced across her cheek beneath her hat; she really cared to make things right, Ryan could see that, "How can you live with that!?"

Gabriella took in a deep breath and stared at her friend, "Well, we'll just have to, Kels…"

Kelsi stared helplessly back at her, "I'm not sure I can do that." She stated, and her blue eyes were full of nothing. She looked exactly like Ryan felt; he'd given up and so had she. Gabriella sighed too, and let her arm fall. An awkward silence came between the three of them.

Ryan sat in his chair, breathing softly in and out. The two girls stood on either side of the coffee table, Kelsi was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling, and Gabriella just stared into nothing and swallowed a huge lump in her throat.

Then a loud bang was heard from the hall and the three of them turned their head to the side, to find Sharpay standing in the doorway, tears trailing down her cheeks, and out of breath. And then Ryan knew… something had happened. It had backfired. Something in their 'brilliant' plan had gone wrong, and now they had to pay the price…

Sharpay lifted her head and looked at them. Her brown eyes were filled with hurt and fear and she took a step into the room, dropped her bags to the floor and sniffed. "What does 'still' mean?" she asked them, voice clear in the room, even if she had just been crying, "What does it mean?"

Ryan stood up from his seat and stared questionably at her, "What do you mean, Sharpay?" he softly asked, afraid to really know the answer, "What happened, sis?"

Sharpay stepped closer and turned to Gabriella, "I had a very interesting conversation with Troy." She said, and Ryan feared what had happened between the two of them. He'd noticed how Troy seemed to act around Sharpay and he hadn't taken that as a good sign. But if they had talked… everything could have happened. This wasn't good, "He tried to kiss me." Sharpay finished, voice low.

A flash of hurt came across Gabriella's face and she took a step backwards; away from Sharpay. "Ho- how could you do that… to me?" she got out, staring Sharpay right in the eye. Her own brown ones were filled with pain, and Ryan knew she had been right; something was between Troy and Sharpay – he just wasn't too sure if Sharpay was a where of that herself.

Sharpay clenched her jaw, "_He_ tried to kiss _me_, I said." She firmly pointed out, her eyes set straight on Gabriella still, "But I pulled away, and… and he told me I was still in ice queen." She swallowed loudly and now Ryan knew what this was all about, the 'still' thing, "What does 'still' mean?" she wanted to know.

Gabriella's eyes went for Kelsi's, who just stood there, hopelessly watching as it all rambled down around them. They'd have to tell her. They couldn't work their way out of this, Ryan knew it. They had to tell her what they had done and hope that she would forgive them and listen to their reasons and hopefully take it into account once she started remembering the real things.

"Tell her." Ryan firmly said, looking first at Kelsi, who just nodded, and then at Gabriella, who closed her eyes for a few seconds, before she opened them again, full of tears.

Sharpay's eyes went from one to another, and couldn't seem to rest, "Tell me what?" she hoarsely asked them.

"Sharpay…" Gabriella begun, and took this on herself; decided that she should spill, "When you hurt your head and we realized that you couldn't remember these past years, we did something horrible…"

"Something very, very horrible." Ryan added.

Kelsi nodded, "I just want you to know that Ryan didn't want to do it; he didn't have any say in this!" she said, staring briefly at Ryan, who smiled thankfully at her.

"What did you do?" Sharpay wanted to know, and Ryan could see that she was nervous; she feared the worst, and he didn't blame her. They did look like they had committed a crime, which he, actually, would say that they almost had. It was bad, definitely.

Gabriella took a step closer to the blonde girl and opened her mouth to speak, "We decided to change your past, Shar…" she said, and already there, everything seemed to fall into place for Sharpay; she gasped and stepped away from them, hand on her mouth; she was shocked, hurt and full of questions. Her eyes flickered between the three of them, and Gabriella continued, "You weren't the nicest person in the world before, you weren't a good friend." The Latina said, voice firm, even if a few tears spilled down her cheeks, "And we wanted the old Sharpay back – the one they all knew before high school, so we did this…"

Sharpay's voice was shaky when she turned to Ryan and said, "What really happened at the winter musicale, Ry?" she wanted to know, "I didn't just give Troy and Gabriella the parts, did I?"

Ryan shook his head in defeat, "No, sis…" he begun, "You didn't."

"You tried to sabotage their call-backs." Kelsi chipped in, her glasses glistening weirdly in the sunlight coming through the window, "But they won, and you didn't take the lost too well… you hated them ever since. Well, except Troy."

Sharpay sniffed again, "So what about summer?" she continued, now looking at Gabriella again.

The Latina's face fell, "You wanted Troy to come work there, but he got everyone hired. At the talent show… you wanted to sing with him, but you were afraid that we, the workers, would win, so you made sure we wouldn't be able to be in it…" she paused and stared Sharpay directly in the eye, "You almost ruined our summer, and Troy told you off… You hurt Ryan…"

Sharpay gasped again and turned her eyes, so full of tears, towards Ryan, who just stared right back at her, and nodded slightly. He had been hurt back then, but it was unbearable to see her like this; he wished they had never lied to her; this was too much, he couldn't handle it. His own sister hurt so much just because of him.

Kelsi sighed heavily, "So we all remembered the good old you, Sharpay… and we wanted her back, so we did this. The ice queen is what Chad used to call you."

"But it has been so great!" Gabriella quickly said, trying to get her to see the positive side of everything, "It's been so awesome to have you as a friend, we want you to be like that… If you ever do remember, can't you just be sweet?"

Sharpay shook her head, blonde hair moving furiously around her, "I – I can't look at you right now…" she chocked out, voice quivering like never before, "I – I do-don't even know what to… say to yo-you." She stepped backwards until her back hit the doorframe, "I can't believe you. I can't even believe Troy would do this… that he would be able to live with himself and be with me, when I'm not… _me_."

Gabriella stared at her, "I'm gonna talk to him, Sharpay! He's been stupid." She said, a serious look across her face; Ryan was glad that at least she didn't blame this on Sharpay; she blamed it on Troy.

Sharpay bit her lip, "You've all been stupid." She said, before her eyes turned hard and she spitted, "I don't ever wanna talk to you again! Leave me _alone_!" she firmly said, before she pushed herself away from the wall, hurried out of the room and up the stairs. Ryan didn't even bother to follow her, he heard her door smack and the lock click.

He then turned to his two friends and found that his own cheeks were wet too, "Shit…" he mumbled and let himself fall back into the chair.

"We're gonna have to do some damage control." Kelsi quickly rambled off as she started to gather her things, "I'm going to talk to Chad and Taylor."

"And I'm gonna go yell at Troy." Gabriella added, as she started to get all her things off of the table as well.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ryan said, when the two girls were on their way out of the room, Kelsi stopped to turn to look at him, but Gabriella just continued out of there, eager to take her anger out on Troy, "What am I gonna do?" he wanted to know.

Kelsi stared upwards when a clonk was heard from Sharpay's room, "You're going to get her to talk to you." She firmly said, "I'll swing by later to talk." She finished with, before she shot him a reassuring smile and was out of there too.

--

The minute the front door to his house smacked first open, then close, Troy was so sure that it was Sharpay who had come to yell at him for kissing her, to set him straight, so he was actually very surprised when it was Gabriella who marched into his living room.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Troy!?" she demanded to know. Her curls were bouncing all over the place, she had her hands on her hips and the big vein in her forehead popped disgustingly out (which he, luckily for him, had only seen a few times before).

Troy dropped his History book on the table and while looking straight at her, fumbled for the remote and after wrongly haven grabbed his half eaten grilled cheese sandwich, he eventually got the TV turned off. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be pleasant, and he couldn't help but focus on the big vein, and it wasn't good at all, "I was doing my… homework." He mumbled and tried not to blink when the vein popped out and seemed close to burst through the skin on her forehead.

"_Not _funny!" she told him, eyes blinking rapidly. He actually had no idea what he was supposed to think he was doing, but he had known all along that it wasn't the homework thing that bothered her, because well… why would it?

He crossed his arms across his chest and stared right up at her; she looked so intimidating because she was actually taller than him when she stood and he sat, "Then…" he slowly begun, and finally ripped his eyes off of the vein and locked them with hers, "enlighten me, please?"

The look across her face didn't change one bit as she took a step closer to him, "You totally _blew_ our plan, Troy! First of all, you kissed Sharpay when she's still not recovered yet and feels much younger than you, and second of all, how could you do that when we just broke up!? Sharpay and I are friends, how could you think it wouldn't go back to me!?" she was talking quickly and he was sort of scared, but he just looked at her in wonderment.

So yeah. Alright, it wasn't the most clever thing to do to kiss Sharpay. But he had been so sure that she would be okay with it, for it seemed like she liked him too (she always had, right?). And maybe he hadn't thought it through completely because of course Gabriella would know when she and Sharpay were such close friends. It was only natural that Sharpay would tell her whether she was disgusted or happily surprised.

He blinked a few times before he stood up to be more on level with his ex-girlfriend, "Okay, my turn to do the first and second of alls, alright?" he hadn't expected an answer, so he just continued on with his speech, "First of all, you need to breathe Gabriella, I can't have you passing out in my living room floor. My mom will find it weird when she returns, and second of all," he continued, as Gabriella seemed to take in a deep breath and actually listen to him (even if she wasn't amused), "second of all I wasn't trying to hurt either of you, but I really do like her."

Gabriella seemed much calmer now when she looked at him and there was almost a sense of understanding in her eyes. She took a seat in the couch and he sat down next to her, waiting for her to reply. She turned the upper part of her body around slightly and gently placed her hands in her lap, "You do, Troy… you do," she sighed, "but Sharpay's not ready for kissing and what more. She's still so young – barely a teenager, and oftentimes girls so young doesn't want that with a boyfriend. They want to occasionally hold hands and they giggle every time they talk to boys. There's always the first kiss, but Troy… I think you really crossed a line."

Troy stared at her as she stopped speaking and looked at him with huge eyes. She was right, he knew that. He remembered his first kiss with Sharpay and how it had been after. They had liked each other a lot back then. But before they kissed, they were just like friends, and sometimes, when he'd try to talk to her alone, she'd start to giggle and blush and scratch the ground with her feet – just like any girl that age would do. He just hadn't been able to control himself today. He had fought his urges for so long and finally just snapped and kissed her…

He'd probably screwed things up a lot.

"I…" he stopped speaking because he simply didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, you're stupid, Troy! Just admit it." Gabriella mumbled and stared at him with a stern face; she really wasn't kidding, this obviously meant a lot to her, upset her a lot, and he was really curious to know if it was because he liked someone new or if it was because she felt bad for Sharpay, "And you know what the worst part of it was?" she then wanted to know with a knowing smile across her face.

Troy blinked again, "No." he said, as if she thought he was stupid, "But I'm _sure_ you're going to tell me." He finished and smirked slightly. He didn't know what it was with her, but she annoyed him to no end right now; she obviously had one thing she wanted him to say, and if he didn't say exactly that, it'd be wrong. So why didn't she just tell him straight up? He honestly didn't understand her most times.

She shot him a death-glare in annoyance, but told him just the same, "You used the phrase 'ice queen' which was really not cool, Troy. We've been hiding exactly that from her, and you go right ahead and blow it. Straight to her face." She shook her head in disbelief before she continued, in a soft voice, "She was so confused when she got home, Troy! And we had to tell her, of course we had to tell her, and she got so mad, and she…-"

Troy swore his mind stopped listening to her after she used the words 'we had to tell her'. She didn't mean that they-? They hadn't told her, had they? They hadn't said to her that they'd been lying to her since she got out of the hospital? How stupid could they be! They… they should have made up some lie instead, figured something out. If she knew then… then he'd never have a chance with her, she'd hate him forever.

It seemed like Gabriella might have realized that he wasn't listening for she had stopped talking and was now looking at her with a very concerned wrinkle across her forehead, "Troy?" she questioned and reached a finger out to brush his hand, "Troy? Are you listening to me?"

He could feel that his eyes were wide when he looked at her, "You told her!? That wasn't a _fucking_ part of the plan, Gabriella!"

Her mouth fell open, he had offended her, "Yeah, because this is my fault, Troy, _God_!" she stood up again and now had the height advertence once more, "You're so stupid, you are! Seriously! You could've kept your mouth to yourself and this wouldn't have happened. Ryan's at home right now trying to get Sharpay to come out of her room! If one of us ruined this, it was _you_."

Troy knew she was right since technically he was the one who started this, but he'd never admit that to her face, so he just hoped Ryan had luck with his plan, "I really don't want to talk to you, Gabriella." He said in stead and stood up, while he pointed at the entrance to the living room, which led to the hallway, which led to the _door_, "It's that way, you might want to leave."

She shook her head at him again and sighed heavily; apparently she gave up. She turned around on her heel and marched right out of there, in the same angry way that she entered. Troy just fell back onto the couch with a heavy sigh. This wasn't good. How would he ever get Sharpay now?

--

Ryan helplessly knocked on the door for the thousandth time.

"Sharpay…" he whispered into the wood, "Open the door, please? I need to speak with you."

There was no response from the other side. He could only hear faint music and the sound of sobs, and it hurt him because he hated to know that she was in there alone, crying. He wanted to be there for her, and be the perfect brother he always had been. They had always been there for each other and he was always there with a shoulder when she really needed to cry. And he'd always sworn that he would never deliberately hurt her; and still he had done this. He should have stood firm on what he first wanted to do when he told the guys to stop it. He shouldn't have let himself be so easily convinced. He hated himself for it right now, he really did.

He let his arm fall down to hang limply by his side, and let his forehead rest against the door instead in desperation, "Shar please… you're my sister, I'd never hurt you, I love you…" he took a small pause and he could honestly feel tears well up in his eyes, and he didn't want to let them fall, "I wanna make this up to you, please hear me out. I don't know how Chad and Taylor got me convinced, but they did, and I've regretted it ever since, and…"

He looked down when a note was slipped to him beneath the door. He was sort of surprised but also really happy because at least that was some communication from her side after three hours of him begging her to open the door. He bent down and picked up to find a small note written there in her penmanship.

_Ryan, _

_Please leave me alone. I need time to let this sink in. I think I'll eventually be able to talk,_

_Sharpay. _

He sighed again and folded the note into a small square, still looking at her door. He'd give her time if it meant that she would talk later, he'd be able to live with that, "Come get me then." He mumbled into the door, and as he turned to leave, he swore he heard a,

"Thank you."

…Sharpay turned the music down while she listened to Ryan's steps from the hallway as they faded out of earshot. She didn't really know how to feel about him right now. She loved him no matter what, but she couldn't believe he'd let something like this happen to her. Since they were young they had always promised to watch out for each other and protect each other, and yet he let something like this happen to her. She couldn't understand how he could do it to her, it was weird.

And how her friends could too! Some friends they _were_.

She didn't want to see them now, she didn't. She couldn't take this, she couldn't… She couldn't live like this now. What if she never remembered what had happened these past five years? What if the information they had given her had screwed her up so badly that she'd never remember the real stuff? It would be horrible to go through life like that and she couldn't comprehend that it was actually happening to her.

She had no intentions of speaking to Ryan; and it had already sunken in. She didn't want to see either of them ever again, she hadn't lied earlier. She just needed release, and she needed to get away from it all, get away to somewhere where she could be herself and feel at peace.

She knew exactly where that place was.

The note she had written earlier, where she also wrote the note she slipped beneath the door to Ryan, was folded nicely and she placed it on the table in place beneath a picture of her and Ryan from the _Twinkle Town _musical. She stared at them for a few seconds and let her finger brush gently across Ryan's face.

"I love you, Ryan." She whispered, before she reached for her car keys and turned off the light. The last thing she did before she got out of her window in her usual way, was unlocking the door, just so Ryan would be able to get into her room once he started worrying about her.

--

"…and Chad and Taylor just said that maybe we should all sit down and talk to her and explain why we did it." Kelsi finished with twinkly eyes. Ryan had gotten the entire story of her meeting with Chad and Taylor earlier, and apparently they were really sad that Sharpay had gotten so hurt, and now they wanted to make it alright so their friendship wouldn't be ruined.

Ryan nodded and offered Kelsi a smile, "That's good, I think she'll agree to that once she's calmed down much more." He glanced briefly at the big clock on the wall in the kitchen, where they were sitting with each a cup of lemonade and a plate of cookies; it was almost twelve o'clock, Kelsi would have to leave soon to make it to bed today, and he still hadn't seen or heard from Sharpay. It was really worrying him and he'd soon have to go up there and look for her.

Kelsi smiled at him and jumped off of the barstool, "Great. But I better go now, Ryan. We have school tomorrow." She reached for her keys on the table, as Ryan got off of his barstool too, to follow her into the hallway so they could say a proper goodbye. She gave him a small hug, "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, Ry." She smiled and opened the front door. She was half outside, half inside, when she stopped and turned back around to look at him, "By the way…" she mumbled, a curious look in her eyes, "Is Sharpay's car at the shop? She can't be using it right now."

Ryan wrinkled his forehead and shot her a confused look; he wondered why she was asking him that question, it was sort of out of subject, and what did it matter anyway? He shrugged, "No. Why?"

She pointed behind her with her thumb, "Because it's not here, I found it sort of weird when I arrived, because she's not using it, so why would it need fixing?" she shot him a sideways smile, "I've been here for awhile now, and it's still gone. Has your mother taken it?"

Ryan brushed past Kelsi and squinted his eyes to see through the front yard and to the driveway, but her car wasn't where it used to be parked. Suddenly an intense feeling of worry started floating through him, and he felt his fingers itch and his heart beat. _No one_ else drove her car, everyone knew they weren't allowed to – that meant… _No_. No!, she wouldn't have.

He turned back around and shot Kelsi a scary look, and she just stared perplexedly back at him. He then brushed past her, knowing he had to go check her room immediately. He ran up the stairs, vainly recognizing Kelsi's, "Ryan? What's wrong!?" and her following right behind him.

He pushed her room door open and looked around the room. Kelsi entered right after him and she looked around too, pretty confused, but knowing something was wrong. Ryan tried his best to see if something was out of place, if she had packed any clothes or if her pink suitcases were gone, but everything seemed the way it was supposed to. Kelsi went further into the room and started to look around as well, but Ryan turned around and went right into her closet; the clothes she had been wearing earlier in school lay in a heap on the floor and her favourite sweatpants were gone.

He went into the room again, and couldn't help but worry about this more; she didn't know how to drive a car, how could she be stupid enough to try to? He groaned, right as his cell phone rang. He reached into his pocket to get it, while Kelsi was looking through Sharpay's desk, probably to see if she could find anything out of the ordinary. He didn't bother to check his screen, thinking it was probably just his father, calling to say why he was so late again. "Yes, Ryan speaking?"

"Hi, is this Ryan Evans?" a voice said at the other end.

Ryan nodded, even if the other person couldn't see him, "Yes, this is him. Who is this?" he questioned as he watched Kelsi. She was now staring weirdly at that picture of him and Sharpay from the _Twinkle Town _musical; he'd always loved that picture.

"I'm afraid you're speaking with Sharpay's doctor."

Once again, Ryan swore he couldn't breathe. He was _not _getting another phone call like this; he was not hearing that something had happened to his sister again, he couldn't handle that, he couldn't… "What happened?" he breathed out, in shock. He had to lean himself against Sharpay's shelf, and he didn't even notice how Kelsi had now opened up a piece of paper.

"I'm so sorry, Ryan, but…" the doctor paused at the other end, "Sharpay had another accident with her car, except…"

Ryan swallowed loudly, "Except what?"

"Except no one else was involved." The doctor stated and Ryan was confused as how that could happen, but he didn't have to ask because the doctor elaborated, "It seems that she drove straight into the tree where she first crashed her car… on purpose. We fear… we fear that she might have tried to kill herself."

And Ryan didn't know what else to say. He felt so numb; so wrong. He couldn't believe that his dear sister would do something like that. There had to be another explanation, he'd find out soon, he had to.

"She's okay, but she's hurt again, and she has to go through a lot of check-ups, but we think she'll be fine. She didn't hit the tree with much speed."

Ryan didn't reply to that, he just knew he had to see her first thing tomorrow and clear this mess up; make everything go away, make it good again, "Alright…" he whispered into the phone, "Thank you." He then let the phone drop from his ear and clasped it shut.

Kelsi, who had been half listening to his side of the conversation, and half reading the note, turned to him with huge, glassy eyes, "She tried to kill herself, didn't she?" the pianist whispered.

Ryan felt his head perk up, "How did you… how did you know?" he hadn't said that out loud, he was _sure _of it.

Kelsi took a step towards him and held the note up so he could see the pink paper, "She left this…" she softly whispered, and Ryan quickly hurried across the huge room and grabbed the note from Kelsi so he could see it, too. He had a suspicion of what it might be, but he wanted to be sure, and he didn't want to believe it was what he suspected it might be.

But he was right… unfortunately.

_Hi Ryan. _

_You wouldn't believe how disappointed I am in you and our friends, how hurt I am by you guys. I've trusted you all, trusted that you only wanted me the best and that you were the to help, and then I find out that all this was just… a lie? It hurts me, it really does. _

_So here I am, writing you this letter. When you find it I'll be out of here. I can't stand to know that I might never be able to remember what really happened, that we might just have screwed it up entirely. So can you please tell the others that even though they hurt me so much, I appreciate how they tried to be there for me, and that I love them? _

_I love you too, Ry-Ry, you're the best brother a girl could wish for. I hope you'll be very happy. And tell Mom and Dad that I don't care about the divorce, as long as they're both happy; that's the most important thing. _

_Tootles,_

_Sharpay. _

…it was a suicide note.

* * *

_Hey, this is Stessa only. I'm the one who wrote this chapter, and I truly hope you all enjoyed it. The next chapter will hopefully be here a lot soon, and Bethany will be writing on that one, too. I finally got in touch with her (yay!), and she says she's very sorry, but she's been so busy, and she promises to write on the next and final chapter. I hope you're all okay with the fact that I wrote this myself. _

_We love your reviews, they mean the world to us, so please leave another comment and tell us what you thought of the chapter? _

_- Stessa. _

**_Disclaimer; _**_We don't own HSM._


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Brain Drain**

**Chapter Twelve **

**I'll Always Be There For You  
**

Sharpay's eyes flickered open, adjusting to the morning light that was shining through the window next to her. Her thick, blonde locks were tousled across the hospital pillow, and her bangs were in front of her eyes. She lifted a clammy hand to sweep them away, slightly moving her head to the other side of the pillow and closing her eyes again. She had a major headache, and it hurt.

She could remember everything, and that's what was hurting so much. Her former life, before the accident, and the new one that they'd made her into like some perfect little clone of Gabriella.

Everything was so screwed in her mind, everything so muddled up and confusing. She remembered before the first accident, when they had changed her, and after this accident so all of the memories had clashed and she had realised they had betrayed her.

The blonde let a crystal clear tear fall down her stinging cheek, she felt someone's thumb wipe it away and she darted her eyes to the side. It was Troy, she glared at him but her expression fell. She couldn't be mad at him, he was the only person that she couldn't be or stay mad with. He was just kind of different to everyone else, kind of special.

He sat there, smiling softly at her. His brown hair was swirled perfectly around his face and his lips were curled upwards into a sincere smile. Sharpay's eyes wandered over his morning stubble and his cerulean eyes, smiling back.

"Hey," he said roughly but ever so gently. She nodded, but didn't speak. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I've been better," She whispered hoarsely, trying to move into a more comfortable position.

Troy nodded; he'd been here for two days and hadn't quite slept. He could feel the bags forming under his eyes and he was really drowsy. He was glad that Sharpay had awoken though, that took a whole load off of his shoulders because he knew that it was partly (or mostly) his fault why she was sitting in this hospital bed.

"The doctor said that you're doing better since the actual accident," he started. "And that you didn't hurt yourself as bad as the last time." Sharpay met his eyes again.

"I remember everything."

His eyes flickered, "Even before?" Sharpay just nodded again. "You must have hit your head again and it must of… some sort of… gave you your memory back. Well, at least that's good, right?"

"Yeah."

"Look, Shar. I'm really sorry. I was stupid and I shouldn't have kissed you in the first place, I mean, my hormones got the better of me and you were really nice and I've always thought you were really pretty. It's just I couldn't help myself and I shouldn't have called you an ice queen, you didn't deserve that."

Sharpay took a while for that to settle in. She was grateful for his apology, but sorry didn't make everything better. She wanted to forgive him, she really did, but she couldn't. He'd done too much to her, he'd confused her, he'd worried her and he'd kissed her.

"Please say something," Troy pleaded.

"Thank you." She mumbled under her breath, and sat up, pushing her hair out of the way. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days."

"And you've been here all this time?"

"Yes, I had to look after you. I felt too guilty."

"Thank you, Troy."

"You're welcome, Shar." They shared smiles with each other.

Sharpay looked down to the hospital night gown she was wearing and she wrinkled her nose, letting out an "Ew, what's this?" She laughed and then saw something sparkling on her neck. It was the necklace Troy had bought her; she picked it up and looked at it, grinning. She turned it over and read the inscription again;

_I'll always be there for you,_

_Love Troy x_

And that was true, he had been always there for her during the accident and now – At least he'd kept his word.

Sharpay looked up to him, "You have been there for me, haven't you?" She asked, playing with the necklace.

"Yeah, I have Sharpie. You don't know how much I care for you." Sharpay nodded, she did know how much he cared for her. She really did. They'd been best friends for a long time now, they had just drifted apart.

"Of course I do, silly." Troy laughed.

He was glad to see the smile that was planted genuinely on her face. He didn't know why but when she smiled, it seemed like the whole world had stopped and somehow it could even make him forget his own name.

He didn't really understand why he felt this way all of a sudden. Now, she was normal again, mean and unkind, but somehow she still felt like that six year old girl again in his heart.

"I'm glad you've got your memory back, anyways."

"Me too, I felt stupid not knowing anything. And thanks to you guys I was really confused and such, but you know. I kinda still am, about my relationship with the gang. I mean, they're gonna hate me again, aren't they?"

"Not necessarily."

"Don't mention this, but I kinda really liked being best friends with Gabriella."

Troy raised an eyebrow, "Oh. My god, really?" He mocked her voice; she lifted a hand and hit him playfully.

"Yeah, she was really nice."

"Gabriella is nice Sharpay, that's not new." She laughed. "You should tell her this when she comes."

"She's coming? Oh great…"

Everything was quiet for a moment, then the brunette turned to see Sharpay's twin brother standing in the doorway; he stood up and decided to leave. He quickly kissed Sharpay's head and scattered out of the room.

Ryan took the seat that Troy hadn't moved out of for two days, and looked into her chocolate eyes. He moved his hand leisurely over to hers, resting it on top apologetically. Before he knew it, she had snatched it away and crossed her arms. Her eyes were full of distress but her face was angry, and he knew why. He'd messed everything up; they shouldn't have even tried anything in the first place. They should have just told her the truth, told her what she was really like. But it was too late now, it was time for apologies.

"Shar," She turned her head to the right, completing ignoring his calming voice. She was being stubborn, but she had a perfectly good reason to be. "You know I love you right?" Ryan waited for an answer, but he didn't get one. "Well, I do. And I really hope you actually know that, I've been stupid. I know I have and I shouldn't have made you something you're not. I love you the way you are. You're my sister, and you mean everything to me, I'm really sorry."

Sharpay closed her eyes, still facing the other way. Her hair was sticking to her face, but she didn't care. She didn't give a damn about what she looked like right now, or what she was wearing. Her own flesh and blood had lied to her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, stroking her now damp cheek.

"I remember everything again."

"Oh god, I'm sorry Pay, I really am."

"You could've told me."

"I know I could have, but I didn't. That's what I'm apologizing for, and I really hope you take it, Pay." Sharpay shrugged and turned to look at him.

"Okay, okay, but … I don't _completely_ forgive you." Ryan stifled a laugh and a small, warm smile appeared on her lips. She looked over to him, and he looked back. She could be mad with him, she just didn't want to right now. Ryan was her brother, Ryan was her everything.

"I've missed you, sis."

"Couldn't say the same about you," The real Sharpay was back.

Ryan shook his head in wonderment, "Glad to have you back, sis." He quickly said, before he stood off of his chair and went for the door. The stopped there though, and turned around to look at her again, "There's a whole bunch of people outside who're very anxious to see you and talk to you." he swallowed kind of loudly, "Can I send them in?"

Sharpay blinked but didn't say anything. She just leaned back in her bed with a huge sigh. This was getting kind of crazy, kind of scary. But she spoke the truth before; she did want to be friends with Gabriella – the entire gang actually. They were so nice to her when she was nice to them… maybe they could still be friends once they talked things over and everything was forgiven and forgotten.

There was a knock on the side of the door and she looked up to find Kelsi in the doorway. The small pianist looked really scared, but Sharpay found her so cute, she couldn't help but offer her a small smile, "Come on in…" she hoarsely whispered and Kelsi smiled in relief and stepped inside to take a seat in the chair Ryan and Troy had formerly occupied.

"Hey Sharpay…" Kelsi mumbled and awkwardly tried to hug her.

Sharpay patted her back just as awkwardly, "Hi Kels…" she stared at the other girl; they'd been friends long before high school, long before there was such a thing as 'the gang' and breaking free, they'd been friends since they were kids, "What's up?"

Kelsi's glasses were reflected in the faint sunlight coming from the window, and Sharpay found her very breakable right that second, "I'm really sorry, Sharpay." She said, trying to sound confident, "I'm sorry I went along on this charade, and I'm sorry you got hurt, I just… I just don't understand why you'd try to kill yourself."

Sharpay's neck did a spasm, huh? She stared at Kelsi with wide eyes and a confused look went across her face, "I did what!?" she almost choked on her own spit in surprise, "Is that what they told you, Kels? That I tried to kill myself. Oh please, don't you guys get flattered."

Kelsi stared at her in surprise but then a smile came across her face as she lit up completely, "You _didn't_ try to kill yourself?" she asked, in complete joy, "It was what the doctors said, and since no one else was involved, they assumed that… Oh wow! This is so awesome, I'm very relieved, Shar."

"Yeah, so am I." Sharpay just mumbled and shook her head in surprise. She couldn't believe they'd actually assume that she wanted to die because of it. Sure, at some point she had wanted to just leave it all behind, but then she thought of all the good things too, and it had just seemed way too desperate.

"But hey? What about the note you left?" Kelsi questioned, curious, of course. "That seemed like a suicide note!"

Sharpay swallowed loudly and got ready to explain everything, "Well," she begun, "after I locked myself in my room I spent a lot of time crying, and then I just thought all of this mess over. And like when I first crashed my car, I felt like I needed to think things over, and I do that when I drive." She paused and Kelsi seemed to listen, completely devoted to her story, "But… but I was scared, and then I saw a picture of Ryan and I, and it all seemed too much for me to… get through. So, in a moment of _complete_ brain drain, I wrote that note for you guys, and I was very set on smashing my car and just ending everything…"

Kelsi reached a hand out to grab hers tightly, and Sharpay didn't say this, but she really appreciated it.

"So I changed and got my keys and just… drove." She swallowed and turned her head upwards, to look into the ceiling, "But then… then my cell phone rang." She squeezed her eyes together, "It was Troy, he-he wanted to talk, he wanted to make it alright, I guess, make up for his behaviour or something…" she trailed off and locked eyes with Kelsi again, "So I talked to him while I drove my car, and it was very dark. And then suddenly I had to turn a corner and I dropped – I dropped my cell phone, so I had to bend my head and find it beneath the seat. I'd just agreed with Troy that we should talk things over the next day, and everything seemed to much brighter right there after he'd sort of apologised. I just wanted to go home and burn that note before anyone found it…"

Kelsi's fingers were still squeezing hers tightly.

"But as I searched beneath that seat for my fucking cell phone, I drove straight into a tree." Sharpay finished, "I remember it completely."

Kelsi nodded softly as she let all this sink in. "Wow…" she mumbled.

"Yeah." Sharpay just said, and couldn't help but let a lone tear slip, "Everything was so good, even if you guys had been lying to me… I was kind, we-we were all friends… No I'm just gonna… gonna be mean again."

"But Sharpay," Kelsi said and almost laughed aloud, "you know it doesn't have to be that way. We can all be friends. You just… you just have to be the kind and wonderful Sharpay we've all seen you as these past weeks. I know it's gonna be tough for you first, but you'll get used to it. And I think it'll really all be worth it."

Sharpay didn't reply, she just stared at Kelsi with a bunch of questions in her eyes. Kelsi stood up too and dropped Sharpay's hand from hers. She paused in the door, just as Ryan had done,

"Think about it." she ordered in a kind voice.

Sharpay heaved out a heavy sigh and turned her eyes to the window.

--

"…and so we're really sorry, Sharpay." Taylor finished, a kind yet sorry look across her face and written in the dept of her brown eyes.

"Yeah," Chad quickly added, actually looking kind of sorry too, "we really are."

Taylor tried to smile, "I hope you can forgive us?"

Sharpay stared at the weird couple in wonderment. She didn't actually know what they were doing there, except she had been listening to their apology for a very long time now – at least thirty minutes. She hadn't really paid much attention though, just let them speak; she'd been wondering why Gabriella hadn't showed up yet. Next to Troy and Ryan, she was the person Sharpay was most anxious to see and work things out with. For all she cared Taylor and Chad could take a hike.

But on the other hand… as she had listened to them without objections, she had seen that maybe if she actually took time to hear them all out once in a while, then maybe they really could stand to be her friend, and maybe they wouldn't categorize her as mean anymore. If that was all it took… maybe she could live with it. Sure, she'd often enough have better things to do than listen to all their crap, but she'd deal if it meant she got great friends… It wasn't that hard at all, now when she really thought about it. And maybe after a while, after haven listened to crap she didn't want to hear, maybe she'd start to care and actually want to hear it? It was a possibility, and Sharpay kind of hoped, right that moment, that'd she soon care that much.

When Sharpay didn't answer, Chad leaned forward in the chair and stuck his hideous face up in hers, "Sharpay? Can you hear me?" he wondered, enunciating each syllable very clearly – just _in case_ the crash had damaged her hearing.

She offered him a huge, sarcastic smile, "I can hear you perfectly, Danforth, and yes, you're both forgiven if you'll just please be kind enough to remove your huge nose!"

Chad quickly sat back in the seat and Sharpay couldn't help but giggled when his left hand went for his nose in wonderment, and Taylor's smile became huger and much more real.

"We're really forgiven?" the black beauty questioned; Sharpay knew it was important to her to leave it all behind, to let it be forgotten, because it was evident that she felt really bad. And Sharpay wanted to forget it all too – Taylor had been a good friend to have, too, and she, Kelsi and Gabriella had all been awesome to chill at the mal with.

Sharpay nodded, "Yes, you are, Tay."

"Even if Chad and I were behind it? You'll still go to the mall with me?" Taylor continued on.

Sharpay sighed, "Yes, I will, Tay. Just…" she locked eyes with the other girl, "Just promise never to lie to me like that again, and once you leave this room, make sure Gabriella comes in!"

Taylor quickly jumped off of the side of the bed, "Aye, aye, Ma'am!" she said, and did that funny thing with her hand, "We'll be doing that right this second." She snatched Chad by the arm and quickly pulled him with her out of the room.

Sharpay couldn't help but giggle when she watched them leave. She could get used to this, she was sure of that. Of course she'd have to be sweet little by little so it'd seem like they had to work for it (she was still Sharpay Evans, yeah!), but eventually she could actually see herself really hanging out with them, and sharing secrets with them. It'd be great to finally have friends like that once more. She'd really missed it, she realized.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when someone cleared their throat. She looked up to find Gabriella standing softly by the foot of the bed. Her eyes was red, and beneath them, trails of black from her mascara was left behind – she'd been crying, and Sharpay didn't know why, but that really moved her.

The Latina swallowed loudly, "You – you wanted to… talk to me?"

Her voice was soft and Sharpay had this weird feeling inside her chest; she had this sort of compassion, and she wanted to wrap her arms around the fragile girl and hug her and never let go. She wanted to whisper soothing things into her ear and make sure that she was alright. She'd never felt this sort of thing before; at least not like she remembered. She… she actually _cared_.

"Get over here." She said, and actually wasn't that surprised when she heard tears in her own voice; it almost cracked, "Get over here and give me a hug."

Gabriella seemed to breathe out deeply as she went around the bed. She stepped into Sharpay's now open arms and placed her head on her chest, crying once more. Sharpay felt her own tears start to fall; she was affected by the situation and by Gabriella's emotions and she thought that maybe that was okay.

"I'm… I'm so so-sorry Sharpay…" Gabriella hiccupped, having a tight hold on the blonde, which she didn't seem to want to let go of, "I – I'm sorry about.. about everything, and T-Troy and what we did-did." She clenched her jaw tightly and Sharpay brushed her hair gently, "I just wanna be… be your friend now."

Sharpay kissed her forehead – full of love, "It's alright, it's okay, Gabriella…" she whispered, her voice filled with care, "It's all gonna be okay, we're friends now, we'll forget everything, we'll just be… just be Sharpay and Gabriella, okay?"

Gabriella pulled back slightly and when Sharpay locked eyes with her, she had to admit that this girl had already won her over; she could see into her soul and Sharpay knew so much about her; there was no need to play it tough in front off her, because she knew what she was really like.

"Just Gabriella and Sharpay?" Gabriella questioned and pulled away from her, only to brush thousandth of tears away.

Sharpay nodded, "Mhm."

Gabriella giggled, "Thank you, Sharpay…" she reached for Sharpay's hand and there was a comfortable silence between them, until Gabriella spoke again, "By the way… Troy was here earlier, wasn't he?"

"Yeah?"

"I really think you should go out with him." Gabriella mumbled, kindness written across her face, "I mean… if you want to. I just – I wouldn't want you to say no because of _me_, I'll be alright. I just want what's good for you, and you guys would be perfect together."

Sharpay had been contemplating this matter, because, well, she might as well face the facts – she'd liked Troy since she kissed him on Halloween, and the only reason she had really flipped out earlier was because she felt younger than him and she wasn't sure whether or not it would all be okay with Gabriella. But if the Latina gave them her blessings, and would be happy for them… nothing was holding her back, was it?

Sharpay bit her lip, "Would that really be okay with you?" she wondered, still very much concerned – she just had to be _sure_.

Gabriella's face lit up, "Are you kidding me!? Of course it will be!" she seemed happy now and Sharpay's mood was very much affected by that, "Troy's so crazy about you, Sharpay, and… and I might not like him very much right now, but I will soon, because I do care. And I care about you, and I can see it in your eyes, just… just go for it."

Sharpay reached a hand out and grabbed Gabriella's, only to squeeze it tightly, "Thank you."

Gabriella squeezed back, before she dropped her hand, "Should I send him right in?" she asked, as she made her way towards that door.

Sharpay just blinked.

* * *

_**Bethany; **__Hey guys, it's meeee. So yes, it's over. Brain Drain is __over__. Are you sad, did you like it, did you hate it? Tell us, we'd love to have one final review from you. I want to thank Stessa for obviously writing this with me and I want to thank YOU, because you guys have been amazing sticking with us while we've (I've) been lacking updates. So remember, one last review? Thanks guys, love ya - Toodles!_

_**Stessa: **__Hola ;b I think Bethany pretty much did the whole beg-for-one-last-review-part, so I'm just going to give you all my thanks for reading, and of course thanking Bethany as well. You're the best. And to Catie, of course, whom this was dedicated to – I love you, if you're even reading this, anymore. _

_**Disclaimer; **__We don't own HSM. _


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